Labour turns up pressure on Rishi Sunak over his role in Greensill Capital scandal
Labour is calling for Boris Johnson to conduct a more thorough inquiry into the David Cameron lobbying scandal, with Anneliese Dodds today also calling for Rishi Sunak to answer questions over his contact with Greensill Capital.
The shadow chancellor criticised Sunak for not answering questions in parliament today about how Greensill Capital was allowed to administer the government’s coronavirus business loan scheme (CBILS) and what communications he had with Cameron.
Sunak last week released text messages between him and the former Prime Minister, showing the chancellor said he would “push” officials to take another look at Greensill after it was denied access to another coronavirus bailout scheme.
It comes as the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (Acoba) chief Eric Pickles today revealed that former senior civil servant Bill Crothers was appointed as an advisor to Greensill Capital in 2015 while still working in Whitehall.
The job was given approval by the Cabinet Office and no guidance was sought from Acoba at the time, leading Pickles to demand an explanation around the decision making process.
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Dodds told MPs today that that Sunak and the government was “running scared of levelling with [the public] on the Greensill scandal”.
“Hundreds of millions of pounds of public money were put at risk by giving Greensill access to [CBILs],” she said.
“With Greensill’s collapse, thousands of jobs – in Rotherham, Hartlepool, right across the country – have been put at risk. Those workers, and taxpayers across the country, deserve answers.”
Greensill Capital, a supply chain finance firm, was one of just two non-bank lenders to be allowed to give out CBILS loans to struggling companies.
It was not subject to the same stress tests by the Bank of England, which determine if financial institutions would survive an economic crisis.
Business minister Paul Scully answered questions about Greensill Capital in parliament today as the CBILS scheme was overseen by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS).
“The accreditation for any of the Covid loans schemes is run independently by the British Business Bank,” he said.
“Neither BEIS nor HM Treasury had a role or were involved in the CLBILS accreditation decision for Greensill.”
Boris Johnson yesterday launched an inquiry into Cameron’s efforts lobbying for Greensill Capital.
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.
The inquiry will be led by Slaughter and May lawyer Nigel Boardman.
Speaking to Sky News today, Johnson said: “I’ve asked Nigel Boardman to have a look at this whole issue of supply chain finance and given him carte blanche to ask anybody whatever he needs to find out.
“I think people have just got questions that they need to satisfy themselves, including me, about how this supply chain finance stuff is meant to work, I don’t think it’s going on at present anywhere in government, but we need to understand what the intention was, how it came about and that’s what Nigel Boardman is going to do.”