David Cameron is put on the grill after MPs pressure Lex Greensill to collapse

In 2010, when David Cameron was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, he delivered a speech criticizing pressure groups. “We all know how it works. The lunches, the hospitality, the calm word you have in your ear, the ex-ministers and ex-ministers for rent, helping large companies to find the right way to make their way ”.

Eleven years later, Cameron’s own relentless lobby has been exposed to a treasure trove of private messages sent to senior members of the Conservative government.

WhatsApp, text and email messages – sent 56 times since the start of the pandemic in 2020 – were posted by the former prime minister at the request of the Treasury selection committee, which is investigating the collapse of Greensill Capital, the supply chain financing company where Cameron was an advisor.

Cameron, who will have to give verbal tests on Thursday, will have seen as shaky as his former businesswoman Lex Greensill grilled by the same 11 deputies Tuesday afternoon.

In three hours of questions, MPs repeatedly asked the Australian financier about the failures of his business; at one point they forced him to deny that he was a “fraudster.”

Deputies reported that Greensill Capital’s loans to the GFG Alliance metal conglomerate were made on the basis of suspicious invoices which have raised suspicions of fraud.

“At no point, not even our company, would we have been dedicated to funding accounts receivable that we knew were fraudulent,” Greensill told the committee.

A series of messages

The FT first revealed in mid-March that Cameron, Greensill’s stock options, which at the time were worth tens of millions of dollars, approached senior Treasury and Downing Street staff last year. in a search for government help.

The new documents show how Cameron – who signs his “DC” messages – was pressuring an even wider range of government informants than previously thought, including his old friend Michael Gove, the cabinet minister.

The three-month rain of messages caused the former prime minister to flatter himself as he tried unsuccessfully to change the rules on Covid’s debt plans for the benefit of his Greensill Capital client between March and May. last year.

In one of 13 messages sent to Rishi Sunak, Cameron praised the chancellor: “You are doing a great job, keep going.” In a text on April 29 last year, he said there was great progress in negotiations between Greensill and Treasury, “so thank you very much.” Sunak only responded directly to two of the texts.

In May, as the Treasury rejected Greensill’s requests, Cameron again tried to lean on Sunak, saying, “My apologies for bothering you again. We should have gotten to that answer sooner.”

The documents showed Cameron sending messages to other former colleagues, including Nadhim Zahawi, who was then business minister. He sent a text message to Gove about Greensill’s situation. “I am talking to Rishi in the early hours of tomorrow. If I’m still trapped, can I call you? Thanks! DC. ”In a separate message, he praises Gove’s“ great work ”.

Cameron also wrote to Richard Sharp, a banker advising Sunak – and now chairman of the BBC – to complain about the slow progress. “I’m afraid ministers may have to get stuck a little harder,” he complained.

The former prime minister sent a message to Tom Scholar, the permanent secretary of the Treasury. “We meet with Rishi’s to get an elbow or a kick. Love DC [sic]”He said. In another message, he told Scholar ‘glad you’re at the helm.’

In a week in March, while texting Scholar almost daily, he apologized, “One last point, I promise I’ll stop bothering you.” When Scholar didn’t look very positive, he responded the next day by complaining and threatening to call cabinet ministers: “That sounds baffling. I’m calling CX now. [Sunak], Gove, to everyone. “

New Treasury documents show how the industry was consulted to allow supply chain financing providers to access the Bank of England’s Covid Corporate Financing Facility, only to reject the idea in June.

Cameron has insisted he was unaware of Greensill’s financial difficulties until December last year.

But Andrew Bailey, governor of the Bank of England, said in a presentation to the Treasury committee that the BoE was first aware of a “potential weakness” in Greensill in March 2020, around the time Cameron began to intensify his pressure activities.

Risk of concentration

Lex Greensill told the Treasury committee on Tuesday that the key reason for the group’s failure was the decision of Tokyo Marine, its main insurance provider, for not renewing its coverage, amid a wider Covid agitation.

However, emails published in separate litigation show that the insurer fired an insurer for providing excessive coverage to Greensill. The insurer had been personally pressured by Cameron.

The loans originated by Greensill were sold to Credit Suisse funds. Insurers provided coverage against defaults on the underlying debt, which was vital to the smooth running of the process.

Greensill said he took “full responsibility” for the collapse of his company and admitted he had a “risk of concentration that ultimately undid” the business and “an over-reliance on insurance in general.”

He insisted his company’s loans were backed by real assets, although he admitted that up to 20 per cent of the group’s loans last year were based on “future accounts”.

Documents released by the Treasury committee also shed light on how Greensill put pressure on the UK Financial Conduct Authority, which is now investigating the firm.

The FCA has previously analyzed issues related to GAM, the Swiss asset manager that heavily invested to Greensill products and was forced to liquidate some of its funds in 2018. It questioned staff and plowed through internal emails after a whistleblower raised concerns, FT reported in 2019.

At the hearing, Lex Greensill declined to answer questions from Labor MP Emma Hardy about whether the FCA investigated Greensill when it examined issues in GAM, saying he was unsure whether he was allowed to discuss the matter.

Separately, in December 2020, Lex Greensill met with Chris Woolard, who was leading an FCA review of the unsecured credit market, to discuss how a Greensill company was implementing a plan to let NHS staff collect your paycheck every day.

Woolard asked “where does this win?” and Greensill said it was a “complement” to the NHS “as they are already earning a lot with NHS contracts,” the meeting notes say.