This scandal reeks of sleaze and cronyism

Last week, yet again we saw reports of Conservative government ministers and even the former Prime Minister, David Cameron, involved in the Greensill scandal, which reeked of cronyism and sleaze. Government officials, past and present, using their position to their advantage by leveraging pressure on colleagues and civil servants, to award lucrative government contracts and loans to companies who pay for this influence, either as lobbying consultants, party donors or even family members.

Descriptions such as cronyism or sleaze do not do justice to this kind of behaviour which is deceitful and is an abuse of position by this Conservative government which ultimately is paid for by the taxpayer.

As details emerged last week of the Greensill scandal, and as Boris Johnson faced mounting pressure to provide answers and accountability, the Prime Minister announced that he had personally appointed

Nigel Boardman to review the situation.

Nigel Boardman, son of a Conservative peer, is a former lawyer and existing consultant with law firm Slaughter

& May, the same firm who worked closely with the Treasury on the government’s coronavirus loan scheme. This is not good enough. How are we supposed to trust a review which is organised by the very people under scrutiny? This is why Labour attempted to force a vote for an independent Parliamentary inquiry which would have properly scrutinised the evidence and examined the mechanisms of the lobbying sector and the relationships between the government and the civil service. Sadly this vote was defeated.

This all comes during a global pandemic, where so many businesses in Canterbury and Whitstable have suffered financially and have not all been given the full financial support that they should have done. I welcome the new Levelling Up Fund allocation to the Canterbury area and will work with the universities, business groups and the city council to make sure that support goes to those who need it most, not just those with the best connections.

‘This all comes during a global pandemic where so many businesses have suffered’