Rishi defended over lobbying controversy

RISHI Sunak has been defended by a fellow Cabinet minister amid calls for an investigation after text messages showed he “pushed” officials to consider plans that could have helped a firm David Cameron was lobbying for.

Labour questioned whether the Chancellor had broken the ministerial code, while the SNP urged Mr Sunak to appear before Parliament next week to “set the record straight” over his full exchanges with the former prime minister.

The Chancellor was defended by Transport Secretary Grant Shapps yesterday, who insisted Mr Sunak followed rules “absolutely to the letter”.

Mr Sunak had said the former prime minister “reached out informally by telephone” to him, as well as Economic Secretary John Glen and Financial Secretary Jesse Norman, over Covid support for Greensill Capital.

The collapsed finance company Greensill had approached Treasury officials regarding access to the Covid Corporate Finance Facility (CCFF), administered by the Bank of England. Mr Sunak said the meetings covered requests made by Greensill to change the terms of the scheme or broaden its scope to allow it access to it, both of which were rejected.

Greensill subsequently filed for insolvency, putting at risk thousands of steelmaking jobs in the UK and rendering Mr Cameron’s reported tens of millions of share options worthless.

The Chancellor defended the decision to listen to the requests given the desire to help businesses survive the pandemic, before confirming Mr Cameron’s lobbying activities.

Mr Sunak also published two text messages he sent to Mr Cameron in April 2020, although messages sent by Mr Cameron have been withheld by the Government.

The first message from Mr Sunak to Mr Cameron, sent on April 3, 2020, read: “Hi David, thanks for your message. I am stuck back to back on calls but will try you later this evening and if gets too late, first thing tomorrow. Best, Rishi.”

The second message from Mr Sunak on April 23 said: “Hi David, apologies for the delay. I think the proposals in the end did require a change to the market notice but I have pushed the team to explore an alternative with the Bank that might work.

“No guarantees, but the Bank are currently looking at it and Charles should be in touch. Best, Rishi.”

Asked if Mr Sunak had behaved appropriately, Mr Shapps told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I don’t think there is any issue here of impropriety at all. He has followed absolutely to the letter what you should do.

“It actually says in the ministerial code, if you get contact like this, what you must do is forward it on and let it be dealt with via the usual channels. Which is exactly what happened, to a negative result.”

Mr Cameron has been exonerated by a watchdog over the issue, after the Registrar of Consultant Lobbyists concluded he was an employee of Greensill so was not required to declare himself on the register of consultant lobbyists.

Shadow chancellor Anneliese Dodds has called for a “full, transparent and thorough investigation” into events.