‘Does he not feel he disrespected himself?’: David Cameron faces Greensill grilling

MPs are set to ask David Cameron on Thursday whether he feels he has demeaned himself and his position as a former British prime minister by lobbying for Greensill Capital.

The Treasury committee will take evidence from Mr Cameron from 2.30pm over lessons learned from the debacle engulfing the collapsed lender.

The Telegraph understands that members of the committee plan to interrogate the former prime minister over what checks he performed on the controversial finance firm before taking on a role as a paid adviser.

Greensill Capital is now under investigation by the Financial Conduct Authority, which warned this week that some of the allegations about its collapse are “potentially criminal in nature”.

MPs are also set to quiz Mr Cameron about the amount of time he demanded from ministers and officials at the height of the pandemic last spring, as he sought to secure access for the firm to a state coronavirus loans scheme.

One MP said they believed the committee would “want to ask him – does he not feel he disrespected himself and his position as a former twice-elected British prime minister by associating himself with this company? How much did he know when he was lobbying that Greensill was close to falling apart?”

Australian banker Mr Greensill, founder of the eponymous finance firm, appeared before the Treasury committee on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, two MPs warned he may have misled Parliament when he said his company did not lend money to its shareholders, pointing to a €300 million loan that Greensill made to its private equity backer General Atlantic.

Labour MP Angela Eagle and Tory MP Harriett Baldwin raised concerns and urged Mr Greensill to correct the record and explain his responses, the Financial Times reported.

Mr Greensill told the newspaper: “I would be happy to provide further clarification or explanation of my testimony given yesterday if asked to do so by the Treasury select committee or any of its members.”

Mr Cameron has faced fierce criticism over his work for Greensill Capital, after he took up a role at the firm after leaving office.

During his administration he had brought Mr Greensill into the heart of Downing Street as an adviser on supply chain finance.

The scale of the ex-prime minister’s intense lobbying operation was laid bare earlier this week, when it emerged he bombarded ministers and officials with more than 60 texts and emails last spring.