TELL US THE LOT, CAM...
EX-PM probed on deals with China
PRESSURE is mounting on David Cameron to come clean about his financial links to China.
Campaigners are questioning his ability to properly represent the UK when dealing with Beijing after making a shock return to Government this week as Foreign Secretary.
And there is concern over his accountability as he is not in the Commons. During his time as Prime Minister, he was seen as chummy with Chinese President Xi Jinping, touting a “golden era” of relations with Britain.
Since then, his jobs have included being vice-chairman of a planned £1billion China-uk investment fund, which never got off the ground.
It was reported this week Lord Cameron unsuccessfully sought funds for it from the China Investment Corporation, an arm of the state.
Parliament’s intelligence and security committee has questioned whether his role on the fund was “in some way engineered by the Chinese state”. And The Times said he took part in an event where Chinese entrepreneurs and officials could pay for a “three-hour close-up exchange”.
Upon taking office on Monday, Lord Cameron said he was resigning from “all of the businesses I’ve been helping and all other things I’ve been doing”. But he did not specify what they were and Downing Street said he does not have to.
New MPS are required to disclose any jobs, gifts or payments relevant to their job in the past 12 months – but peers are not. In a letter to Sir Laurie Magnus, the PM’S sleaze adviser, Unlock Democracy’s Tom Brake says: “I would argue strongly the disclosure of Baron Cameron’s business interests are indisputably in Parliament’s and the public’s interest.”
Lib Dem MP Christine Jardine added: “The public deserves to be told if scandal-tainted David Cameron has other skeletons in his closet.”
Since he quit as PM in 2016, our relationship with China has soured after spying claims, Huawei’s role in our 5G network and erosion of civil liberties in Hong Kong.
Lord Cameron was approached for comment. His office has confirmed his speaking engagements “included a limited number of events in China or for Chinese audiences”.