The head of the United Kingdom Public Service has ordered all senior officials to declare whether they have rule-breaking second jobs in the wake of a developing scandal involving former Prime Minister, David Cameron.
Public Service chief, Simon Case says colleagues must declare paid roles or outside interests that might conflict with their Government work.
The move comes after correspondence revealed that former Chief Procurement Officer, Bill Crowthers (pictured) had become involved with Greensill Capital while still a Public Servant.
Greensill is a financial firm that also employed Mr Cameron after he left Government; it has since collapsed.
Opposition parties have called for a special parliamentary committee to be established to investigate the way in which Mr Cameron and former Public Servants sought to influence Ministers in the current Government, led by Boris Johnson.
Mr Johnson has rejected a parliamentary investigation, but has agreed to a separate, independent inquiry into the matter.
Mr Crothers began advising Greensill in September 2015 while still employed in the Public Service; he did not leave his position as Chief Procurement Officer until two months later.
He then became a director of Greensill, gaining a shareholding potentially worth £5.8 million ($A10.5 million) before the company collapsed a month ago.
Mr Crothers has denied any wrongdoing and said such outside roles were “not uncommon” — a claim that has caused alarm in the Government.
The scandal deepened when Mr Cameron, who was a special adviser to the company’s board and partly paid in share options, was found to have sent texts and emails to Ministers seeking approval for policies that would benefit the lender.
It was reported that Mr Johnson has ordered the inquiry to examine the approval process that meant Mr Crothers was given leave to advise the company while still an impartial Public Servant.
Sources claimed that approval was given by the former Cabinet Office Permanent Secretary, John Manzoni.
One former Cabinet Minister said the disclosures could severely damage the reputation of senior Public Servants.
“We have to be able to trust that a Civil Servant does not have a second job and is completely impartial, or have a public register of their interests as we have for MPs,” the unnamed former Minister said.
London, 18 April 2021
