Influential UK Standards Watchdog Targets Cameron’s Greensill Lobbying
TYLER DURDEN, 31 March 2021
By now, the British media has been inundated with reports about the special access afforded Greensill Capital, the trade-finance firm that collapsed and filed for administration three weeks ago after its main insurer declined to renew policies on some of Greensill’s assets, setting off a chain reaction that ensnared some of Europe’s biggest banks (including the embattled Credit Suisse, which is simultaneously fighting off another scandal in the Archegos Capital blowup).
And many of these stories have focused on the firm’s relationship with former Prime Minister David Cameron, who was hired as a senior advisor by the firm after he left No. 10 Downing Street. Cameron continued to lobby on the firm’s behalf, even after the michegas at GAM a few years back that led to the departure of star trader Tim Haywood, one of the most high-profile investors in London. It was reported that alleged misconduct attributed to Haywood had to do with his investments in Greensill paper – paper that was reportedly tied to Sanjay Gupta’s GFG Alliance group of companies, who have also emerged as main characters in the collapse of a group of Credit Suisse funds (the bank is now tallying client losses and even weighing the possibility of reimbursing some of its more important clients who have threatened to take their business elsewhere).
A few days ago, it was revealed that Cameron is facing an official investigation over whether he violated lobbying “anti-sleaze” laws he himself helped create. Now, in addition to the office in charge of enforcing the lobbying rules, Cameron is facing a far more serious investigation by the Committee on Standards in Public Life. That investigation will allow for input from the Labour Party, which has demanded an investigation into how Greensill obtained a desk and a pass inside the former prime minister’ Cabeint Office a decade ago, years before it hired Cameron.
The committee will also investigate Cameron’s lobbying of senior government officials, including Chancellor Rishi Sunak, in an effort to secure access for Greensill to COVID-related financing for small and medium businesses.
