David Cameron breaks silence on Greensill Capital to defend lobbying

Former UK prime minister says he was right to contact Chancellor

FILE PHOTO: Britain's former Prime Minister David Cameron. Reuters

Former UK prime minister David Cameron broke his silence over the controversy of his lobbying for Greensill Capital, defending his actions and saying he was right to contact the Finance Ministry.

“I thought it was right for me to make representations on behalf of a company involved in financing a large number of UK firms,” Mr Cameron told PA.

“This was at a time of crisis for the UK economy, where everyone was looking for efficient ways to get money to businesses.”

Mr Cameron and government ministers have come under fire in recent weeks for their connections to Greensill, which specialised in financing supply-chain invoices but collapsed last month.

Mr Cameron, an adviser to the firm, had lobbied the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak, to give Greensill access to Britain’s pandemic support programme.

He also arranged a private meeting with Health Secretary Matthew Hancock, after which a Greensill payment programme was used in the National Health Service, The Sunday Times reported.

But Mr Cameron did say there were “important lessons” to be learnt about how former ministers and prime ministers interact with the government.

He said communications should be “through only the most formal of channels so there can be no room for misinterpretation".

“In my representations to government, I was breaking no codes of conduct and no government rules,” Mr Cameron said.

“The Registrar of Consultant Lobbyists has found that my activities did not fall within the criteria that require registration.”