Former UK prime minister David Cameron and failed financier Lex Greensill will give evidence to MPs next week about the collapse of Greensill’s company.
The Treasury committee will take evidence from Cameron on Thursday afternoon and from Greensill two days earlier as part of its inquiry into the company’s collapse and its relationship with government.
Cameron lobbied the Conservative government on behalf of Greensill, including Chancellor Rishi Sunak and Treasury officials, in 2020. Cameron is reported to have had share options in Greensill, now worthless, that would have paid him tens of millions of pounds.
Mel Stride, who chairs the committee, said MPs would “carefully examine” Cameron and Greensill’s actions and contacts with the Treasury. Neither man has spoken publicly about the affair, though Cameron released a long statement admitting mistakes but attempting to distance himself from the company’s collapse.
“The committee is determined to answer the key question as to whether HM Treasury responded appropriately to the lobbying on behalf of Greensill Capital, including that carried out by David Cameron,” Stride said.
“We also want to establish what lessons there are from Greensill’s collapse for the operation of the financial system.”
Cameron, prime minister from 2010 to 2016, repeatedly urged Sunak and officials in 2020 to include Greensill in the government’s Covid-19 crisis programme so that the company could lend money to businesses with Treasury backing. Greensill collapsed in March 2021, leaving Sanjeev Gupta’s steel business short of cash and endangering thousands of UK jobs.
On 12 May the committee will take evidence from Nikhil Rathi, chief executive of the Financial Conduct Authority, and his chairman Charles Randell about the Greensill affair.
