The Greensill Bank logo is displayed in the center of Bremen, Germany, July 3, 2019. REUTERS / Fabian Bimmer // File Photo
The UK government doubled down on its defense against cronyism allegations on Sunday, arguing that former leader David Cameron’s failure to get support for financial firm Greensill Capital showed that its lobbying rules were “pretty good.”
Questions about whether former ministers and officials will have easy access to the Conservative government have been raised by the behavior of Cameron and other officials.
Cameron has denied violating any code of conduct or government rules, and the government has repeatedly said that the outcome of its discussions on Greensill’s failed proposals for access to a COVID-19 loan scheme has not been adopted.
But Prime Minister Boris Johnson has launched an independent review to look into the allegations, and several parliamentary committees are also launching investigations into the role of lobbyists and the interests of ministers in private companies.
George Eustice, the environment minister, said he believed Cameron had done nothing wrong, but agreed with the former prime minister’s statement that in retrospect he should have contacted the government in a more formal way than text message.
“The real point is that he really did something wrong? Well, at first glance no, but there’s a review going on, we shouldn’t get ahead of it,” he told Sky News.
“But basically I think the systems we have … are actually pretty good, but that’s not to say you couldn’t make tweaks and changes.”
The scandal has intensified since the Financial Times and Sunday Times newspapers reported that Cameron contacted ministers on behalf of Greensill, including sending text messages to Treasury Secretary Rishi Sunak and arranging a drink between banker Lex Greensill and Secretary of Health Matt Hancock.
The government said last week that a former chief of procurement was allowed to take a part-time role in advising the company in 2015 – when Cameron was prime minister – while remaining a government or civil servant. read more
Hancock has also been criticized for owning stock in a company where his sister is a director, which has been approved as a potential health service provider.
Eustice said the health minister declared that interest and had no role in any procurement. “So yes, there is nothing wrong with ministers who have financial interests, provided they declare them properly.”
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