GREENSILL LOBBYING SCANDAL: DAVID CAMERON ADMITS BEING PAID ‘GENEROUS AMOUNT’ AS LOBBYIST FOR FINANCIAL FIRM

Thu 13 May 2021:

Former UK Prime Minister David Cameron admitted on Thursday that he was paid a “generous amount” of money to lobby for the now collapsed financial firm Greensill Capital, but refused to put a figure on his annual salary.

“I was paid an annual amount, a generous annual amount, far more than what I earned as prime minister, and I had, shares, not share options but shares in the business, which vested over the period of time of my contract,” Cameron told the Parliament’s Treasury Committee.

The ex-prime minister was summoned by the parliamentary commission following media reports claiming that Cameron had contacted serving ministers and government officials, including Health Secretary Matt Hancock, to lobby on behalf of Australian banker and financier Lex Greensill.

The businessman was an adviser to Cameron’s 2010-2016 government, and after leaving office, the UK politician in turn became an adviser to the financier’s firm, which filed for insolvency in April, leaving more than 1,000 people jobless.

Asked about his lobbying of government ministers and officials on behalf of the company, Cameron said he wanted to help support UK workers and businesses in the “economic turmoil” caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Following the scandal, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson appointed legal expert Nigel Boardman to lead an investigation, amid accusations of cronyism and improper lobbying from the opposition.

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