The questions David Cameron must answer

David Cameron is due to appear before two parliamentary committees today over his lobbying on behalf of Greensill Capital before it went bust.

The former prime minister is “set to face a long afternoon of questions from MPs” on the Treasury Committee from 2.30pm and then the Public Accounts Committee from 5pm, reports Sky News.

It comes two days after the Treasury Committee published a cache of emails, text messages and Whatsapps from Cameron to ministers and other officials.

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“Both before and after becoming prime minister, Cameron repeatedly warned that lobbying would be ‘the next big scandal waiting to happen’,” notes The Guardian. “Now he is caught up in exactly the kind of lobbying scandal he vowed to eradicate.”

So far, he has only issued a written statement on the matter, pointing out that he had been cleared of breaking lobbying rules, but his critics say there are still questions that remain unanswered.

What Cameron has said already

In a public statement, published in April, the former PM insisted he was right to lobby the government for Greensill to access a scheme called the Covid Corporate Financing Facility (CCFF), which would have enabled the firm to issue loans using taxpayer cash. “I sincerely believed there would be a material benefit for UK businesses at a challenging time,” Cameron said.

While the firm did not ultimately gain access to the CCFF scheme, it was given access to a separate pandemic programme called the Coronavirus Large Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CLBILS).

Cameron also defended himself against accusations that the company’s founder, Lex Greensill, had been allowed into the heart of government when he was in office. He said Greensill was brought into the civil service in “good faith” and added that “as I recall, I met him twice at most in the entirety of my time as Prime Minister”.

The former Tory leader said the value of his shares in the company was also “nowhere near” the figures of $30m and $60m that have been reported.

However, he did admit: “There are important lessons to be learnt. As a former Prime Minister, I accept that communications with government need to be done through only the most formal of channels, so there can be no room for misinterpretation.”

And what Cameron didn’t say

Labour has accused the government of a “culture of cronyism” and said Cameron’s statement left “many serious questions” unanswered, The Times reports. The opposition wants to see him address those issues before parliament.

The Sunday Times, which has been investigating the scandal, agrees that “the list of questions about Cameron’s conduct keeps growing”. The newspaper suggests the most important is: “Why was Cameron able to get one man and one company such access to the people who shaped Britain’s response to the pandemic?”

The Guardian wants to know if he was aware that Greensill was in financial difficulty when he was lobbying ministers, exactly how much money he stood to gain and whether he was also lobbying any foreign governments on behalf of the firm.

Meanwhile, the BBC’s Chris Mason has drawn up a list of questions he would ask Cameron should he agree to sit down in front of a camera with him. It includes: how soon after Cameron left Downing Street was Greensill in touch to offer a job, how much was he paid, and: “Does all this prove you were right all along in 2010 when you were so outspoken about the perception of lobbying held by so many beyond Westminster?”