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The Greensill scandal is a
political controversy In politics, a political scandal is an action or event regarded as morally or legally wrong and causing general public outrage. Politicians, government officials, party officials and lobbyists can be accused of various illegal, corrupt, uneth ...
in the
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...
related to
lobbying In politics, lobbying, persuasion or interest representation is the act of lawfully attempting to influence the actions, policies, or decisions of government officials, most often legislators or members of regulatory agencies. Lobbying, whic ...
activities on behalf of financial services company
Greensill Capital Greensill Capital was a financial services company based in the United Kingdom and Australia. It focused on the provision of supply chain financing and related services. The company was founded in 2011 by Lex Greensill. It filed for insolvency ...
. It implicated former Prime Minister
David Cameron David William Donald Cameron (born 9 October 1966) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2016 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2005 to 2016. He previously served as Leader o ...
, former Cabinet Secretary Lord Heywood and several other civil servants, and occurred during the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...
. First reported by the ''
Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Nik ...
'' and ''
The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, whi ...
'', it arose from the insolvency of the supply chain financing firm
Greensill Capital Greensill Capital was a financial services company based in the United Kingdom and Australia. It focused on the provision of supply chain financing and related services. The company was founded in 2011 by Lex Greensill. It filed for insolvency ...
in March 2021, first reported by
The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...
. Reports emerged that Cameron had lobbied former
Chancellor of the Exchequer The chancellor of the Exchequer, often abbreviated to chancellor, is a senior minister of the Crown within the Government of the United Kingdom, and head of HM Treasury, His Majesty's Treasury. As one of the four Great Offices of State, the Ch ...
Rishi Sunak Rishi Sunak (; born 12 May 1980) is a British politician who has served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party since October 2022. He previously held two cabinet positions under Boris Johnson, lastly as ...
in 2020 to change rules in order to allow Greensill to join the Covid Corporate Financing Facility, a government loan scheme that was initiated to support companies during the pandemic-related economic recession. A
Cabinet Office The Cabinet Office is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for supporting the prime minister and Cabinet. It is composed of various units that support Cabinet committees and which co-ordinate the delivery of government object ...
inquiry An inquiry (also spelled as enquiry in British English) is any process that has the aim of augmenting knowledge, resolving doubt, or solving a problem. A theory of inquiry is an account of the various types of inquiry and a treatment of the ...
found Lord Heywood to be primarily responsible for Lex Greensill being given a role in government and access into
10 Downing Street 10 Downing Street in London, also known colloquially in the United Kingdom as Number 10, is the official residence and executive office of the first lord of the treasury, usually, by convention, the prime minister of the United Kingdom. Along w ...
. That inquiry and two other separate official inquiries found that Cameron had not broken any lobbying rules or acted unlawfully in relation to his Greensill lobbying activities.


Background

During Cameron's 2010–2016 premiership, financier
Lex Greensill Alexander David "Lex" Greensill (born 29 December 1976) is an Australian businessman best known for being the founder of Greensill Capital, a company focused on supply chain finance and derivative financial products that on 8 March 2021 filed for ...
, suggested by the image of a business card published by the Labour Party to be a senior advisor to the Prime Minister, was alleged by ''The Sunday Times'' to have had access to eleven departments and agencies. In 2018, Cameron became an adviser to
Greensill Capital Greensill Capital was a financial services company based in the United Kingdom and Australia. It focused on the provision of supply chain financing and related services. The company was founded in 2011 by Lex Greensill. It filed for insolvency ...
and held shares in the company. It has been reported that he may have made $60 million from a listing of the company, as well as it being reported that "people familiar with the matter" said he was being paid over $1 million a year for 25 days work per year. Documents obtained by BBC Panorama suggested that Cameron earned around £7m from his salary and selling shares. In 2019, Cameron arranged for a private meeting with Lex Greensill and Secretary of State for Health and Social Care Matt Hancock. Some NHS trusts went on to use Greensill Capital's services.


Lobbying


David Cameron

In 2020, several months before Greensill Capital collapsed, Cameron lobbied the government to change the rules to allow it to join the Covid Corporate Financing Facility scheme, which would enable it to issue government guaranteed loans to support firms during the
COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom The COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom is a part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). In the United Kingdom, it has resulted in confirm ...
, which had had a major economic impact. Cameron lobbied the
Chancellor of the Exchequer The chancellor of the Exchequer, often abbreviated to chancellor, is a senior minister of the Crown within the Government of the United Kingdom, and head of HM Treasury, His Majesty's Treasury. As one of the four Great Offices of State, the Ch ...
Rishi Sunak Rishi Sunak (; born 12 May 1980) is a British politician who has served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party since October 2022. He previously held two cabinet positions under Boris Johnson, lastly as ...
via a series of text messages. There was also at least one phone call between the two, the nature of which was not disclosed. Cameron's requests on behalf of Greensill were declined. Cameron also lobbied an official of the German government on behalf of Greensill. In November 2020, he participated in a virtual call with the German ambassador alongside senior representatives from Greensill to discuss introducing its products into the German civil service. According to Cameron, his lobbying on Greensill's behalf did not break any rule of conduct.


Greensill

Between March and June 2020, Greensill held ten virtual meetings with permanent secretaries Tom Scholar and Charles Roxburgh.


Civil servants

The investigations highlighted that Greensill not only had lobbying links with David Cameron, but with some senior civil servants and private companies too. Bill Crothers served as the UK Government's Chief Commercial Officer from 2012 to 2015, receiving a salary of up to £149,000 a year. According to ''The Times'', in that role, "he was closely involved in bringing Lex Greensill into the heart of government as a crown representative, a role that gave him access to government procurement strategy". He became an advisor to Greensill while still a civil servant, before becoming a director of the company in August 2016. He did not declare his association to the civil service ethics watchdog, nor did he obtain permission from the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (ACOBA) to take up his post-civil service job: ACOBA vets all private sector appointments of former senior civil servants and government ministers.


Inquiries


UK lobbying registrar

By 25 March 2021, a formal investigation had been launched by the UK lobbying registrar to investigate whether David Cameron's work for Greensill had breached lobbying laws. The investigation cleared Cameron of any wrongdoing, concluding that his "activities had not fallen within the criteria that required registration".


Cabinet Office

On 12 April 2021 the government announced a
Cabinet Office The Cabinet Office is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for supporting the prime minister and Cabinet. It is composed of various units that support Cabinet committees and which co-ordinate the delivery of government object ...
inquiry into the lobbying activity performed on behalf of Greensill, to be led by specialist finance solicitor Nigel Boardman, a non-executive board member of the
Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) is a department of His Majesty's Government. The department was formed during a machinery of government change on 14 July 2016, following Theresa May's appointment as Prim ...
. The Cabinet Office inquiry published its 141-page report on 21 July 2021. In it, the then Cabinet Secretary Jeremy Heywood was criticised. Heywood was found to be primarily responsible for Lex Greensill being given a role in government and "extraordinarily privileged" access into
10 Downing Street 10 Downing Street in London, also known colloquially in the United Kingdom as Number 10, is the official residence and executive office of the first lord of the treasury, usually, by convention, the prime minister of the United Kingdom. Along w ...
. It also concluded that Cameron "did not breach the current lobbying rules and his actions were not unlawful" and that he "on occasion understated the nature of his relationship with Greensill Capital".


House of Commons Treasury Committee

On 14 April 2021 the House of Commons Treasury Committee announced they would be holding an inquiry. On 20 July 2021, they published the report of their inquiry into lessons learnt from the failure of Greensill Capital. The inquiry found that Cameron had not broken the rules related to lobbying by former ministers. The report also said that the current rules had "insufficient strength", and that there was a "good case for strengthening them" and that in his lobbying of Greensill, Cameron had shown a "significant lack of judgement".


References

{{COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom, Crown Dependencies and British Overseas Territories, state=collapsed 2021 in the United Kingdom David Cameron Politics of the United Kingdom Political scandals in the United Kingdom Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom on politics Lobbying in the United Kingdom Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on politics