Rishi Sunak breaks his silence over Greensill lobbying row with jab at former Tory leader Cameron

Rishi Sunak broke his silence over the David Cameron lobbying row today with a swipe at the former Tory prime minister.

The Chancellor did not deny that Mr Cameron directly contacted him seeking million in Covid aid cash to help bail out financier Greensill Capital before it went bust.

But in a cutting comment he added that: ‘It’s important that, whoever people are, whether they’re prime ministers or anyone else … that they follow the rules and the guidelines that we have in place for lobbying.’

He defended the right of the Treasury to speak with ‘stakeholders’ but added that the department ‘rejected, ultimately, the suggestion’ that it intervene to help Greensill, which collapsed earlier this year.

Mr Cameron was cleared last week of breaching lobbying rules after a probe by Harry Rich, the registrar of consultant lobbyists – a post set up in legislation passed by Mr Cameron’s Government in 2014.

Today it emerged that a senior civil servant went to work for Greensill without getting approval from the ethics watchdog.

Bill Crother was chief commercial officer under David Cameron’s premiership and worked alongside Lex Greensill, the firm’s founder, while he was an adviser to the PM.

Mr Crother took up a post with  Greensill Capital in 2016, a year after leaving Whitehall. 

Last night it emerged that Australian financier Mr Greensill once had his own Downing Street business card, describing him as a ‘senior adviser’ in the ‘Prime Minister’s Office’.

Labour today repeated its demand for an investigation. Shadow Cabinet Office minister Rachel Reeves  said: ‘Taxpayers deserve to know the true extent of Government access given to Greensill Capital through the former Conservative prime minister.

‘The Conservatives cannot keep turning a blind eye to David Cameron’s behaviour and must get a grip of the cronyism at the heart of Government.’

The Chancellor did not deny that Mr Cameron directly contacted him seeking million in Covid aid cash to help bail out financier Greensill Capital before it went bust.

David Cameron

Lex Greensill

David Cameron (left) is facing further questions about his relationship with controversial Australian businessman Lex Greensill (right) after it emerged he had a No 10 email and landline during his time as a ‘senior adviser’ to Mr Cameron’s government between 2012 and 2015

Asked today whether it was right that people liek Mr cameron can lobby senior ministers directly, Mr Sunak told ITV news: ‘It’s important for people to understand what happened there, that there was a company who approached the Treasury, asking for a change to be made to one of our coronavirus support schemes, which they thought would then help lots of other companies. 

And as you said, we rejected, ultimately, the suggestion. And so I didn’t want to take that that forward. 

‘But it is right that as an institution we engage with stakeholders and we do that all the time when people come with policy suggestions.’ 

The Times reported that Mr Crother worked with Mr Greensill when the later was in Downing Street.

In 2016, a year after leaving the public sector, he joined Greensill, but there is no record of the role having been vetted by the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (Acoba). 

Acoba has now written to the Cabinet Office, which is responsible for flagging up new jobs taken by former civil servants.

A source close to Mr Crother told the Times that he believed he had followed the rules when taking up the job. 

Bill Crother was chief commercial officer under David Cameron's premiership and took up a post with finance firm Greensill Capital a year after leaving Whitehall

Bill Crother was chief commercial officer under David Cameron’s premiership and took up a post with finance firm Greensill Capital a year after leaving Whitehall

A Cabinet Office spokesman said: ‘We will respond to the letter in due course.’

Mr Cameron was facing fresh questions about his relationship with Mr Greensill last night over his business card, unearthed by the Labour Party.

He had a No 10 email address during his three years as a financial adviser to the Cameron government, between 2012 and 2015, and a landline telephone number at Downing Street. 

Shadow chancellor Anneliese Dodds said: ‘This raises further serious questions about the special access Lex Greensill was granted to the heart of government. The public have a right to know what happened here.’

In 2016, two years after Mr Cameron quit as prime minister, the roles were reversed as he was appointed as a senior adviser to Mr Greensill’s company Greensill Capital.

It came amid claims that Mr Cameron and Mr Greensill went on a desert camping trip with the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia – who is accused of approving the 2018 murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi – early last year.

The desert trip by Mr Greensill and also allegedly by his senior adviser Mr Cameron are believed to have been part of a bid to win a lucrative contract with state-run oil firm Saudi Aramco, the world’s most profitable company, The Financial Times reported.

Pictured: Labour party has been handed what it claims to be a business card for Lex Greensill showing he had a No 10 email address and landline while advising the Prime Minister's Office

Pictured: Labour party has been handed what it claims to be a business card for Lex Greensill showing he had a No 10 email address and landline while advising the Prime Minister’s Office

It comes after the Daily Mail told how Mr Cameron had previously given the headline speech at a Saudi summit known as ‘Davos in the Desert’ in October 2019.

Mr Cameron went on to lobby ministers, civil servants and the Bank of England in a failed bid to get Greensill Capital access to the biggest taxpayer-funded Covid loan fund.

His stake in the company could have been worth tens of millions of pounds, but the specialist lender collapsed into administration this month, putting thousands of British steel jobs at risk.

Labour is pressing Cabinet Secretary Simon Case to probe the access Mr Greensill and Mr Cameron had to the top levels of Government and Whitehall.

Leader Sir Keir Starmer said: ‘What’s happening with Greensill gets murkier by the day.’

However, Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng told Sky News yesterday: ‘As far as I know, David Cameron did absolutely nothing wrong.’ Mr Cameron’s spokesman has declined repeated requests to comment.

It came as Mr Kwarteng said the Government could bail out Liberty Steel jobs and plants – but not owner Sanjeev Gupta’s firm, GFG, which employs 5,000 people in Britain. About 3,000 of these work at Liberty.

GFG has been battling to stay afloat since Greensill Capital went into administration.

Mr Kwarteng said all options were on the table to save jobs and 11 Liberty factories. They could include nationalising the struggling steel maker.