David Cameron has become embroiled in yet more lobbying allegations, after official transparency records showed he and representatives of a private health firm which he advises met with vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi, two months before the US firm won public contracts worth up to £870,000.
While applying for clearance for the role in 2018, the former prime minister told the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments that he would not play any role in contract negotiations between Illumnia Cambridge Ltd and the Department of Social Care or “lobby ministers or the UK government in any way on behalf of Illumina or its partners”.
An Illumina spokesperson said: “The vast majority of David Cameron’s work with Illumina is outside the UK, representing the best practices of the UK in genomics to other countries.” Mr Cameron is yet to comment on the allegations.
Meanwhile, Labour has accused the Conservatives of granting a “select group of elite donors” access to Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak through a secretive club. Chairwoman Anneliese Dodds said that the Party’s so-called ‘Advisory Board’ “appears to be less of an advisory board than a means for a select group of elite donors to gain privileged access to the Prime Minister and the Chancellor”.
Her comments follow a report in The Financial Times that says that Conservative officials have confirmed the ‘Advisory Board’ of major Tory donors “occasionally” meet with Johnson and Sunak. The Conservatives says that donations to their Party “comply fully with the law”.
