'Right' for Cameron behaviour to be probed - minister
- Published
David Cameron was prime minister from 2010 to 2016
It would be "absolutely right" if MPs or the public standards watchdog wanted to investigate the "behaviour" of David Cameron relating to a finance boss when he was in power, a minister has said.
The Sunday Times has claimed that Lex Greensill was given "privileged access" to ministries as an unpaid adviser.
But Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng said he did not think Mr Cameron had done "anything wrong".
Neither Mr Greensill nor Mr Cameron has commented on the matter.
Labour has called for an investigation by the Committee on Standards in Public Life into the extent of Whitehall department access granted to Mr Greensill when the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition was in power.
The Sunday Times reported that - while working as an adviser - he had promoted a government-backed loans scheme to speed up payments to pharmacists.
His company, Greensill Capital, later went on to provide funds for the scheme.
In 2018 - two years after he had stood down as prime minister - Mr Cameron became an adviser to the firm.
Mr Kwarteng told the BBC: "If people, committees want to look at what happened, that is absolutely right for them to do that."
He added: "What we have to do is maintain really high standards in public life.
"We have lots of bodies look at that. We've got select committees in Parliament, other committees. It's up to them to make sure best standards are upheld."
'Great deal of transparency'
But Mr Kwarteng said he could not "act as judge and jury in this case", as he was not "fully cognisant" of what had happened.
"I don't know what the actual facts are," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme. "There are lots of allegations."
The Committee on Standards In Public Life has said it does not investigate individual cases, but it is looking more widely at issues of lobbying and transparency.
It was recently reported that Mr Cameron had unsuccessfully lobbied Chancellor Rishi Sunak on behalf of Greensill Capital to increase the firm's involvement in a scheme offering government-backed loans to companies struggling in the pandemic.
Mr Kwarteng said: "He was an employee of the company and there was nothing wrong with that... There is nothing particularly exceptional about that."
'Extent of access'
And he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme there was "no suggestion" the former prime minister "could not pursue another career after politics".
He added that the government was "always reviewing the rules".
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said "obvious gaps" in the regulations had been "exposed", adding: "What's happening with Greensill gets murkier by the day, and I think it's obvious that there's got to be an inquiry. There are too many unanswered questions."
And Sir Alistair Graham, former chairman of the Committee on Standards in Public Life, called for a "tightening of the rules" on lobbying, adding that current Prime Minister Boris Johnson was "rather casual on this standards issue at the moment".
A spokesperson for the government said it had "significantly increased transparency on the workings of government" since 2010.
"The government will be going further to review and improve business appointment rules, and increase transparency in procurement, to ensure we maintain the highest standards in public life," they added.
Greensill Capital - the main backer of the firm Liberty Steel, which employs 5,000 people in the UK - went bust recently.
The government says it is looking at "all options" for keeping Liberty Steel going and saving jobs.
Mr Cameron was cleared last week by a lobbying watchdog, which looked at whether he should have declared himself on the register of consultant lobbyists over work he had done for the firm since leaving Downing Street.
A government spokesman said Mr Greensill had previously acted as a supply-chain finance adviser and Crown representative - adding the appointment had been unpaid and approved in the normal manner.
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- Published19 March 2021
