Greensill: Labour attacks 'Tory sleaze' amid lobbying row

Sir Keir Starmer has said an ongoing row over lobbying shows "sleaze and cronyism" is at the "heart" of the Conservative Party.

The Labour leader wants a "full" parliamentary investigation into lobbying and the contacts between government and Greensill Capital.

He said a lawyer-led review launched by ministers this week would not be a "proper inquiry".

But Boris Johnson said the Tories had been "consistently tough on lobbying".

The prime minister said the government's "proper, independent review" would examine the issue and report back by the end of June.

MPs will vote later on Labour's proposals to set up a new Commons committee on the issue - which the government says is not needed.

Tory MPs have been ordered to vote against Labour's proposal, meaning it is unlikely to be implemented.

Calls to examine lobbying and the relationship between civil servants, politicians and and private firms have intensified in the past week.

These have followed revelations about former Prime Minister David Cameron's efforts to influence ministers on behalf of finance firm Greensill Capital, which recently collapsed. These involved texting Chancellor Rishi Sunak and contacting other ministers.

On Tuesday it also emerged that Bill Crothers, a former government chief procurement officer, was employed as a part-time adviser to Greensill in 2015 whilst still working as a civil servant. Mr Crothers later went on to become a director at the firm.

Mr Crothers's part-time position had been "agreed" to by the Cabinet Office - and the ex-official has said he was taken on in a "transparent" way.

But Mr Johnson said it was "not clear" that "boundaries" had been "clearly understood".

Former Conservative MP Sir Oliver Letwin, who was Cabinet Office minister in Mr Cameron's government, said he found the arrangement "odd" and "surprising," adding that it "will need to be looked at".

At Prime Minister's Questions, Sir Keir urged the Conservatives to support his party's plans for cross-party MPs' inquiry into lobbying, saying: "The prime minister should be joining us."

He suggested there was a "revolving door" between the government and the private sector.

But Mr Johnson said a parliamentary inquiry would involve MPs "marking their own homework", and instead backed his own review of lobbying, which will be headed by lawyer Nigel Boardman.

He said: "I indeed share the widespread concern about some of the stuff that we're reading at the moment and I know that the cabinet secretary shares my concern as well.

"I do think it is a good idea in principle that top civil servants should be able to engage with business and should have experience of the private sector.

"When I look at the accounts I'm reading to date, it's not clear that those boundaries had been properly understood and I've asked for a proper independent review of the arrangements that we have to be conducted by Nigel Boardman and he will be reporting in June."

But Sir Keir told MPs: "I know the prime minister is launching an inquiry. That inquiry isn't even looking at the lobbying rules.

"I'm not sure it's looking at very much at all, because every day there's further evidence of the sleaze that's now at the heart of this Conservative government."

Mr Cameron has insisted he did not break any codes of conduct or rules on lobbying, although he has acknowledged that he should have communicated with the government "through only the most formal of channels".

Conservative MP William Wragg, who chairs a Commons committee currently looking into business appointments, said the Greensill affair was a "tasteless, slap-dash and unbecoming episode for any former prime minister".

But, speaking ahead of Wednesday's vote, he suggested Mr Cameron's involvement was a "red herring" compared with the wider issues - such as why companies were interested in employing "de-skilled" former ministers at all.

The firm's founder, Lex Greensill, who worked as an unpaid government adviser during Mr Cameron's early years in Downing Street, has not commented on the row.