Lex Greensill was given ‘extraordinarily privileged’ access to government, finds report
A Boris Johnson-sanctioned probe into the lobbying efforts of Greensill Capital has found its owner was given “extraordinarily privileged” access to the highest reaches of government.
The report also critiqued the government’s handling of the UK’s lobbying system, which it said gives access to a “privileged few” like former Prime Minister and Greensill Capital adviser David Cameron.
Cameron and former cabinet secretary Jeremy Heywood come up for criticism in the 141-page report by City lawyer Nigel Boardman.
However, Boardman also said “the current [lobbying] system and those operating within it worked well” as evidenced by the failure of Cameron’s lobbying efforts.
Boardman said Cameron often “understated the nature of his relationship with Greensill Capital” when lobbying government figures to try and get a government Covid bailout for the former supply chain finance firm.
Cameron sent dozens of emails, texts and WhatsApps to senior civil servants in the Treasury and Bank of England as well as cabinet ministers to lobby on behalf of Greensill Capital.
It is believed Cameron was being paid more than £1m a year to advise the now failed firm and also held stock options.
Boardman said the fact Greensill Capital was turned down by the Treasury for involvement in the Covid Corporate Financing Facility (CCFF) showed that the lobbying system was working properly.
The CCFF saw the Bank of England buy billions of pounds worth of bonds in investment grade companies in a bid to increase liquidity during the pandemic.
“Officials and ministers in HMT and officers at the Bank of England appear to have behaved appropriately and made the correct decisions in relation to Greensill Capital’s efforts to be accredited under the CCFF scheme,” the report said.
Lex Greensill was first brought into government and Number 10 in 2012, however the probe concluded that Cameron had nothing to do with this.
The former cabinet secretary Jeremy Hewyood, who died in 2018, was instrumental in giving Greensill access to a large number of Whitehall departments to implement supply chain finance – a complicated process that sees worker payments securitised.