Ex-PM Cameron’s lobbying comes under scrutiny
The British government is to investigate lobbying efforts by former prime minister David Cameron on behalf of finance firm Greensill Capital that collapsed under debts last month.
Cameron made private approaches to high-ranking members of the Cabinet to try to get the company involved in a government-backed system of support loans for companies affected by the coronavirus pandemic.
Two years after stepping down as prime minister following the Brexit referendum of 2016, Cameron began working as an adviser for Greensill.
In recent weeks, it has been discovered that he texted Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak and other leading officials in the Treasury on behalf of the company, and also that in 2019 he met Health Secretary Matt Hancock for what has been described as a “private drink” to discuss a payment scheme for the National Health Service.
Cameron said he had not behaved improperly or broken any lobbying rules, and a spokesman told the BBC he “welcomed the inquiry and will be glad to take part”.
However, in a statement issued at the weekend, he admitted that he should have approached ministers through “formal” channels.
“As a former prime minister, I accept that communications with government need to be done through only the most formal of channels, so there can be no room for misinterpretation,” he said.
Senior lawyer Nigel Boardman had been commissioned to carry out a review of how Greensill was able to secure government contracts, and he is expected to report back by the end of June.
Critics have been quick to quote a speech Cameron made in 2010, when still prime minister, about the dangers of political lobbying.
‘Next big scandal’
“It is the next big scandal waiting to happen,” he said.
“It’s an issue that crosses party lines and has tainted our politics for too long, an issue that exposes the far-too-cozy relationship between politics, government, business and money.”
The opposition Labour Party claims to have seen a Downing Street business card printed up in the name of company founder Lex Greensill from 2012, describing him as a “senior adviser” in the prime minister’s office.
Anneliese Dodds, the shadow chancellor, has been given permission to question Sunak in the House of Commons over how Greensill was allowed access to the projects.
“The chancellor can’t keep ducking scrutiny of his decision to put hundreds of millions of pounds of taxpayer money in the hands of an unregulated lending firm with links to a former Conservative PM,” she said.
“We need to know what he ‘pushed’ his officials to do to help Greensill access one of his COVID loan schemes. And we need to know why he then simply opened the door for them to lend through another one.”