A senior Cabinet Office official has admitted that Lex Greensill’s appointment to a role in Downing Street was a “screaming, glaring conflict of interest”.
Darren Tierney, director general of propriety and ethics in the Cabinet Office, told the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee (PACAC) that the Australian financier’s exact role as an adviser was “unclear”.
Links between Greensill Capital, a firm which was founded by the financier, the Government and David Cameron have come under scrutiny amid controversy over the former prime minister’s lobbying on behalf of the firm.
The disclosures over Mr Cameron’s lobbying activities on behalf of Greensill – including sending texts to Chancellor Rishi Sunak – led to Prime Minister Boris Johnson ordering a review by the senior lawyer Nigel Boardman.
A senior Cabinet Office official has admitted that Lex Greensill’s appointment to a role in Downing Street was a “screaming, glaring conflict of interest”.
Darren Tierney, director general of propriety and ethics in the Cabinet Office, told the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee (PACAC) that the Australian financier’s exact role as an adviser was “unclear”.
Links between Greensill Capital, a firm which was founded by the financier, the Government and David Cameron have come under scrutiny amid controversy over the former prime minister’s lobbying on behalf of the firm.
The disclosures over Mr Cameron’s lobbying activities on behalf of Greensill – including sending texts to Chancellor Rishi Sunak – led to Prime Minister Boris Johnson ordering a review by the senior lawyer Nigel Boardman.
By Press Association 2021
Prime Minister Boris Johnson during a visit to Moreton farm in Clwyd near Wrexham, North Wales, as part of Welsh the Conservative Party s Senedd election campaign
Michael Gove has backed Boris Johnson after the Prime Minister allegedly said he was prepared to let “bodies pile high” rather than order another coronavirus lockdown.
The Cabinet Office minister said on Monday that he “never heard language of that kind” in the meeting where Mr Johnson ordered the second shutdown in England.
The Prime Minister was also forced to deny making the statement as he faced questions about the bitter briefing war that has hit No 10.
By Press Association 2021
Simon Case, the Cabinet Secretary and the UKâs most senior civil servant, giving evidence on the work of the Cabinet Office to the Commons Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee
Boris Johnson did not try to block the investigation into who leaked the decision to impose the second lockdown, the top civil servant has suggested, as he said a culprit is unlikely to be identified.
Simon Case declined to comment on Monday on whether the Prime Minister’s former chief aide Dominic Cummings had been cleared of being the so-called “chatty rat” who tipped off the press.