Liberty Steel crisis deepens further, UK orders independent probe in Greensill scandal

FORMER UK prime minister David Cameron will “respond positively” when asked to provide evidence in an investigation to probe his role in lobbying for Greensill Capital, a spokesperson for him said.

Cameron, who resigned as prime minister in 2016, lobbied senior government ministers, including chancellor Rishi Sunak, on behalf of Greensill Capital, seeking funds for the company he was employed by.

A parliamentary committee said on Wednesday (14) it would launch an inquiry into the failure of the finance firm and how the Treasury responded to lobbying efforts made on behalf of the firm by Cameron.

“The committee will focus on the regulatory lessons from the failure of Greensill Capital and the appropriateness of Treasury’s response to lobbying in relation to Greensill Capital,” the committee said in a statement.

After leaving Downing Street five years ago, Cameron worked as an adviser to Greensill Capital. The firm was run by Lex Greensill, who previously worked in Downing Street during Cameron’s tenure as prime minister.

In March, Cameron was cleared in an investigation by a watchdog, which probed whether he broke rules by not registering as a lobbyist for his work at Greensill.

However, in the face of demands of transparency from the opposition Labour party, the government ordered an independent inquiry this week.

Greensill Capital was a major financier of Liberty Steel, run by British Indian Sanjeev Gupta, whose employees are at risk of losing their jobs.

Gupta said his GFG Alliance acted legally when applying for funds under the government's Covid support schemes.

It said it was "confident that it abided by all rules that applied to GFG Alliance entities in respect to those loan applications, including rules related to business structure".