PM warned lobby scandal risks ‘Red Wall’ vote gains
Boris Johnson risks losing his election gains against Labour if he does not clean up the “shameful” Westminster lobbying controversy, a Conservative grandee has warned.
Sir Bernard Jenkin, chair of thecommonsliaisoncommittee, has urged the Prime Minister to get a grip on the lobbying systemfollowingaseriesofrevelationsinthewakeofgreensill Capital’scollapseintoadministration.
Afailuretobe“moretransparent” than previous administrations could risk the so-called “Red Wall" seats that Mr Johnson
built his 2019 majority on, Sir Bernard suggested.
A series of probes have been commissioned, including by Downing Street, as Westminster looks to understand the role former prime minister Davidcameronplayedinsecuringwhitehallaccessforgreensill, which was selected to delve outgovernmentcovidsupport loansatthestartofthepandemicandwhosecollapsenowrisks thousands of jobs, particularly in the steel sector.
The saga deepened last week after it emerged the former head of government procurement, Bill Crothers, took a parttime position with the failed firmwhileinhiswhitehallpost.
Writing in The Observer, Sir Bernardsaidthe“linesbetween public service and private gain” had become “blurred”.
Theseniortorydescribedthe current situation as “shameful” and “utterly corrosive of public trust in government”.
“This should matter to Boris Johnson,” he wrote.
“He does not need to pretend to be a saint, but his ‘Red Wall’ voters, who gave him his majority, will start to dismiss him unless he can show he is more open, more transparent and very different from the outof-touch elite he defeated in the 2016 referendum and ousted from government.”
Environment Secretary
George Eustice said there are already “some quite robust systems” in place on lobbying.
Mr Eustice, who also defended Mr Cameron’s actions, told the BBC'S Andrew Marr Show: “What I am saying is that we have already got some quite robust systems in place and the principal one is the ministerial code – it is about how ministers conduct themselves based on the people they have talked to.
“So, we should be worried less about who they have talked to, worried much more about 'are they unduly influenced by individuals’?”