Hand it over: David Cameron ordered to show lobbying text messages
Former prime minister David Cameron has been given two weeks to pass on the details of his text messages in which he attempted to lobby the chancellor on behalf of failed finance firm Greensill.
In a letter to Cameron, the chairman of the Treasury select committee urged the former prime minister to release details of the messages, ahead of oral evidence which is to be given to MPs in the coming weeks.
The firm, in which Cameron could have benefited £21.8m if his bid to bag a Covid-19 loan scheme was successful according to The Observer, collapsed at the beginning of March.
Mel Stride, a former Conservative Treasury minister, has called on Cameron to lay bare a complete “timeline”, recording the contact he had on behalf of Greensill with any government minister.
Current prime minister Boris Johnson said after an investigation was launched last week, that he will seek to “understand what the intention was” behind efforts to implement supply chain financing into government departments.
The Cabinet Office will conduct a review into the former prime minister’s role in lobbying health secretary Matt Hancock and chancellor Rishi Sunak for Greensill while he worked at the firm as a part of a wider probe.
Cameron is required to outline when he first become aware of Greensill’s financial difficulties, before he attempted to persuade Hancock, Sunak and other Downing Street officials to change rules around Covid-19 loan schemes to benefit Greensill early last year.
The finance supply chain finance firm filed for administration when Credit Suisse funds, valued at around $10bn, were suspended.