THE access that Lex Greensill had to Downing Street years before he was given Government contracts was a "screaming, glaring conflict of interest", MPs have heard.
The Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee was speaking to Simon Case, head of the Civil Service and Darren Tierney, ethics director in the Cabinet Office, following revelations that the financier had access to No.10 while David Cameron was Prime Minister.
Mr Case told MPs he was "alarmed" about the job Mr Greensill had, admitting that officials had so far been unable to find any contract detailing his work and added that the role didn't "look right".
Mr Tierney also admitted it looked like "a screaming, glaring conflict of interest".
Their comments come after a series of revelations about the links between the financier, David Cameron and the current Conservative administration.
Mr Greensill owned Greensill capital, which collapsed earlier this year and put thousands of UK steel industry jobs at risk.
Mr Greensill had a business card stating he was a senior adviser in the Prime Minister's Office under Mr Cameron, and after he stood down as PM, Mr Cameron began working for him.
It emerged that the former Prime Minister had tried to lobby Chancellor Rishi Sunak to nget financial support for the failing firm, and arranged private drinks between Mr Greensill and the health secretary Matt Hancock.
Conservative MP David Jones asked Mr Tierney if Mr Greensill could have acquired information in No.10 that “would have been of assistance to him” in deciding the basis upon which he would offer commercial services to the Government.
Mr Tierney said: “I think it’s exactly that potential conflict of interest that we have asked Nigel Boardman to look at.”
Mr Jones then asked: “I mean, you say potential conflict of interest, doesn’t it look a screaming, glaring conflict of interest?
Mr Tierney replied: “Yes it does.”
When asked if it looked to be “appalling incompetence” by senior officials, Mr Tierney said: “What we haven’t seen is the evidence of how the conflict was to be managed, and that is what we have asked Nigel Boardman to look into.”
Lawyer Nigel Boardman was appointed by Boris Johnson to lead an inquiry into the now-collapsed finance firm's activities in government.
Mr Tierney also told MPs that his department had been "unable to find a contract" for Mr Greensill, and added: "What we have found so far are an appointment letter, and then subsequent reappointment letters, which set out some conditions on his appointment.
“Things like the Official Secrets Act, confidentiality, business appointment rules when he leaves. But so far we have been unable to identify a contract.”
He added that Mr Greensill's advisor role was "unclear", adding: " He was appointed as an unpaid adviser on supply chain finance in January 2012, he did that until 2015. In 2013, he also became a crown representative, which lasted until 2016, when he left the Cabinet Office.
“His status as an adviser, it’s unclear what basis that has, and that’s something that we have asked Nigel Boardman to specifically look into."
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