Labour has demanded an immediate overhaul of lobbying rules following the publication of a review into David Cameron's behind the scenes work for the controversial Greensill company.
The ex-Tory Prime Minister provoked anger when it emerged he flooded ministers’ mobile phones with calls, texts and emails appealing for Covid support for the since-failed finance firm, Greensill, which he had shares in.
Labour’s Deputy Leader Angela Rayner MP dismissed Boris Johnson’s investigation into the lobbying scandal as a “whitewash” after it found Cameron had broken no rules by lobbying the Government for Greensill Capital.
The committee responsible for public transparency, ACOBA, also said the PM broke no rules as two years had passed between Cameron’s resignation from Downing Street and his lobbying job with Greensill.
The former prime minister David Cameron and the late cabinet secretary Jeremy Heywood come in for only mild criticism in the 141-page independent review drawn up by City solicitor Nigel Boardman.
Rayner said: “This report was set up as a classic Boris Johnson cover-up. The Greensill scandal proves beyond all doubt that the rules that are supposed to regulate lobbying are completely unfit for purpose and require radical and immediate overhaul.”
She added: ““The ACOBA system and current rules regulating lobbying do more harm than good by giving a veil of legitimacy to the rampant cronyism, sleaze and dodgy lobbying that is polluting our democracy under the Tories.
“Labour will ban former Ministers from lobbying government for at least five years after they leave office, and overhaul the current broken system and replace it with an Integrity and Ethics Commission that will close the revolving door and stamp out sleaze.”
Boardman said the low take-up of Greensill Capital’s financial products showed that “ministers and civil servants made the proper analysis of the products being offered to them and did not allow their judgment to be influenced”.
But he said: “Those lobbying government on behalf of Greensill Capital at times used strong methods.
Boardman added: “David Cameron, when seeking to influence Her Majesty’s Treasury’s decisions about the CCFF (Covid Corporate Financing Facility), on occasion understated the nature of his relationship with Greensill Capital.”
Cameron welcomed the review, saying it “provides further confirmation that I broke no rules”.
In a statement, the former Prime Minister said: “I am pleased that the report provides further confirmation that I broke no rules. It also makes plain that I was not responsible for bringing Lex Greensill into Government or any of the arrangements connected to this.
“I have said all along that there are lessons to be learnt, and I agree on the need for more formal lines of communication.”
