Well, well, well. It may have been seven years since David Cameron was last involved in frontline politics, but he’s certainly not forgotten the skill of a political interview. Quizzed this evening by BBC political editor Chris Mason, Cameron managed to, er, dodge just about every question he was asked when it came to the Greensill scandal.
Two years ago, Cameron made approximately £8.2 million promoting finance business Greensill Capital, which later collapsed as criminal inquiries into its alleged fraud began. Prior to the company’s collapse, Cameron had intensively lobbied civil servants in 2020 to allow Greensill to lend up to £10 billion in emergency Covid loans.
But when quizzed on the Greensill palaver today, Cameron simply refused to answer the question:
CM: The Treasury Select Committee accused you of a significant lack of judgment over your lobbying of ministers on behalf of the finance company, Greensill. Why should voters trust your judgment now?
DC: Well, the most important thing I’ve done since, since leaving office was to act as president of Alzheimer’s research… Today I resign from all of those things, from all of the businesses I’ve been helping and all the other things I’ve been doing, including being a professor at NYU. That all stops. I now have one job as Foreign Secretary of the United Kingdom, and I’m very proud to work with our Prime Minister to try and make sure our country can be as secure and as prosperous as possible.
Mason tried again, telling the new foreign secretary: ‘I noticed you ducked my question on Greensill.’
But Cameron wouldn’t budge:
I think all those things were dealt with by the Treasury Select Committee, by other inquiries at the time. And as far as I’m concerned, that is all dealt with and in the past. And I now have one job as Britain’s foreign secretary, as part of Rishi Sunak’s team, to try and make sure this country can be as secure and as prosperous in a difficult and dangerous world.
Some expert dodging there, Mr S notes, but how long can Cameron keep this up for? He of all people must know that a return to frontline politics brings with it a hardy dose of media scrutiny…
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