David Cameron earned more than $1m a year as Greensill lobbyist
Collapsed finance group Greensill Capital paid the former Prime Minister a salary of more than $1m (£722,000) a year to lobby government ministers and officials on behalf of the firm.
Cameron was contracted to work 25 days a year as an adviser to the board, meaning his daily take home earnings amounted to more than $40,000, the Financial Times first reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
The hefty pay package made him one of the highest earners at Greensill, earning far more than career bankers with decades of experience.
The Cameron-Greensill lobbying scandal was sparked by a series of damaging stories earlier this year in the Sunday Times and FT about the former PM’s involvement in lobbying the government.
The former PM’s efforts to convince ministers to allow Greensill to sign up to emergency government coronavirus loans are being scrutinised by multiple inquiries, including one by Boris Johnson and one by the Treasury Select Committee.
In May, Cameron told MPs he was paid a “generous amount” by the failed company, but did not think it was in trouble when he sent a slew of almost 60 emails, texts and Whatsapp messages to figures like Rishi Sunak to curry favour for Greensill’s application to two state-backed emergency funding schemes.
“I was paid an annual amount, a generous annual amount – far more than I earned as prime minister,” Cameron told Westminster’s Treasury Select Committee.
“I had shares, not share options, but shares in the business which vested over the period of time of my contract.
“The fact I had this economic interest, serious economic interest, is important, but I don’t think the amount is particularly germane to answering those questions and as far as I’m concerned it’s a private matter,” he added.