Sleazy access
Cam lobbying row grows into worst Tory scandal in decade
DAVID Cameron enjoys a cosy chat with the boss of the failed bank he urged cronies in No10 to give Covid cash to.
The former PM and Lex Greensill were on a 2020 Saudi Arabia trip. Mr Cameron’s brazen lobbying has plunged the Tories into their biggest sleaze scandal in a decade.
PRESSURE was mounting on David Cameron last night as he faced fresh questions over his role in the Greensill lobbying affair.
It emerged one of his top officials started advising the failed bank while still working for the Government, which is usually banned.
The former PM has plunged the Tories into their worst sleaze scandal in a decade over his cosy meetings and informal text messages with ministers, urging them to give Greensill Capital access to
No10 contracts and cash from a Covid business recovery scheme.
And there was further fury at the probe launched by Boris Johnson into the cronyism – over fears it will be another cover-up.
Newly-published papers show Bill Crothers, Whitehall’s head of procurement under Mr Cameron, began advising Greensill while still a civil servant.
Labour branded it “extraordinary and shocking”. MP Toby Perkins said: “I’ve written to ministers on behalf of businesses… and waited for months for a reply. Yet Greensill get 10 meetings in three months with Treasury officials.”
Lawyer Nigel Boardman will carry out the investigation into the Greensill scandal. But Labour are unhappy the probe was ordered by No 10.
MP Jon Trickett told the Commons: “It sounds like a whitewash to me.” Deputy leader Angela Rayner added: “The Tories can’t be trusted to mark their own homework after handing billions in taxpayers’ money to their donors and cronies.”
Mr Crothers was allowed to carry on advising Greensill due to a loophole. The Cabinet Office said because he had already started working for the firm part-time before quitting as a civil servant, the rule did not apply to him.
The civil servant said: “I did not promote Greensill for any public sector business for more than two years after leaving.”
A picture emerged of Mr Cameron with Lex Greensill, founder of the firm, during a visit to Saudi Arabia. The pair went on a camping trip to lobby Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman in early 2020.
Mr Cameron took Mr Greensill, who acted as an unpaid adviser for No10, for a “private drink” with Matt Hancock in October 2019. The Health Secretary is said to have told the banker to work directly with the NHS rather than his department.
The most recent sleaze scandal on this scale was the “Cash for Access” affair in 2012, when officials claimed meeting with senior Tory figures could be arranged in return for donations.
The Tories can’t be trusted to mark their own homework
ANGELA RAYNER ON PROBE INTO LOBBYING