AP reported that the Bank of England published a series of communications showing Britain’s former Prime Minister Mr David Cameron making repeated efforts for a now bankrupt financial firm Greensill Capital to access a state-backed coronavirus financial support scheme. According to email communications released by Britain’s Bank of England under freedom of information laws, Cameron contacted the bank several times in March 2020 to discuss financing conditions at the onset of the pandemic. The documents show that he managed to set up a call between the firm’s founder, Australian financier Mr Lex Greensill and the bank’s deputy governor Jon Cunliffe on March 17. On that day, the bank launched the COVID Corporate Financing Facility, a scheme under which it lent money directly to large companies, backed by the Treasury. Mr Cameron also contacted the bank again during April 2020 after Lex Greensill had failed in an attempt to tap the recently launched scheme. Mr Cameron even wrote to Mr Cunliffe on April 22, 2020, expressing how incredibly frustrating the exercise had proved to be. At another call between Mr Lex Greensill and Mr Cunliffe two days later, Mr Cunliffe said the firm would currently fall outside the boundaries of the scheme. Separately, the top civil servant at the Treasury Mr Tom Scholar also revealed that Mr Cameron had called him on his mobile phone and sent a series of texts as part of his lobbying efforts for Greensill Capital, specifically the proposal to access the CCFF. Mr Scholar told a committee of lawmakers “The call I took from Mr Cameron was not a substantive discussion of the proposal. It was simply a call to draw it to my attention. I said Thank you very much, this is something we are looking at. The proposal had been rejected by Treasury officials as it did not meet the criteria for the scheme.” It has previously been disclosed that Mr Cameron had also contacted Treasury chief Mr Rishi Sunak in an effort to secure government-backed loans for Greensill Capital. The House of Commons’ influential cross-party Treasury Select Committee has announced that it would begin an investigation next week into Greensill’s collapse and the “appropriateness” of the UK Treasury’s response to lobbying.
AP reported that the Bank of England published a series of communications showing Britain’s former Prime Minister Mr David Cameron making repeated efforts for a now bankrupt financial firm Greensill Capital to access a state-backed coronavirus financial support scheme. According to email communications released by Britain’s Bank of England under freedom of information laws, Cameron contacted the bank several times in March 2020 to discuss financing conditions at the onset of the pandemic. The documents show that he managed to set up a call between the firm’s founder, Australian financier Mr Lex Greensill and the bank’s deputy governor Jon Cunliffe on March 17. On that day, the bank launched the COVID Corporate Financing Facility, a scheme under which it lent money directly to large companies, backed by the Treasury. Mr Cameron also contacted the bank again during April 2020 after Lex Greensill had failed in an attempt to tap the recently launched scheme. Mr Cameron even wrote to Mr Cunliffe on April 22, 2020, expressing how incredibly frustrating the exercise had proved to be. At another call between Mr Lex Greensill and Mr Cunliffe two days later, Mr Cunliffe said the firm would currently fall outside the boundaries of the scheme. Separately, the top civil servant at the Treasury Mr Tom Scholar also revealed that Mr Cameron had called him on his mobile phone and sent a series of texts as part of his lobbying efforts for Greensill Capital, specifically the proposal to access the CCFF. Mr Scholar told a committee of lawmakers “The call I took from Mr Cameron was not a substantive discussion of the proposal. It was simply a call to draw it to my attention. I said Thank you very much, this is something we are looking at. The proposal had been rejected by Treasury officials as it did not meet the criteria for the scheme.” It has previously been disclosed that Mr Cameron had also contacted Treasury chief Mr Rishi Sunak in an effort to secure government-backed loans for Greensill Capital. The House of Commons’ influential cross-party Treasury Select Committee has announced that it would begin an investigation next week into Greensill’s collapse and the “appropriateness” of the UK Treasury’s response to lobbying.
