$10 million from Cameron to pressure the British government to reopen the lobbying controversy | international

Felipe Gonzalez has on more than one occasion compared former presidents to Chinese vases in a small apartment, because they are “things of value that no one knows where to put,” and David Cameron seems determined to confirm the metaphor. The former British prime minister’s lucrative activities since leaving 10 Downing Street have reopened the debate over the thin red line that separates rulers’ right to earn a living once they leave power and the utilitarian use of their influence, with purely economics. purposes.

The final chapter of his controversial contract with advisory firm Greensill Capital focuses on the recognized “good amount of money” he received for his role as a part-time consultant to ensure preferential access to government. In just two and a half years, Cameron earned about $10 million (about 8.5 million euros), fifty times the equivalent of 177,000 euros a year when he was head of government and twice the average salary. Heads of major companies listed on the London Stock Exchange (about 4.25 million euros).

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Figures published by the BBC program panorama, once again questioning the extent of pressure on the executive branch by the former leadingDoubts have already forced him to appear before a British Parliament committee in which MPs criticized his “great lack of governance”. Although they failed to officially disclose wrongdoing in his behaviour, Cameron had no choice but to publicly admit that he should not have succumbed to temptations such as direct contact with top officials in Boris Johnson’s administration, such as the chancellor, to seek mediation on behalf of Greensell.

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Ironically, the publication of their wages offers some perspective on their desperate attempt to persuade the government to incorporate consulting into a government initiative to provide businesses with support lines to deal with the consequences of the coronavirus pandemic. His mediation failed, but the failure is hardly due to the negligence of the former president, who between March 5 and June 26 last year sent 45 emails, texts and WhatsApp to lead the Ministry of Finance.

His department now says that pay is a “private matter” and even denies that the numbers he disclosed panorama True, but it seems indisputable that Cameron had to justify why his part-time contract contained six zeros. No one in the UK doubts that the reason he was hired was less his talents as a consultant and more than his privileged access to government codenames. The main accusation against him is that he used his private communications for his own benefit, a goal that, while not technically illegal, would do little to extricate the leader responsible for the Brexit referendum, which is still seen as a catalyst for one of most Chain reactions in recent history in the United Kingdom

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Given that the controversial company of Australian financier Lex Greensell was forced to file for bankruptcy in March of this year, leaving 440 layoffs and potential losses in billions for investors, Cameron’s salary is equally suspicious and outrageous. On the one hand, it puts the focus back on controversial pressure maneuvers on the executive branch, known as Pressure , The practice, which Cameron himself said while staying in Downing Street, would be the next scandal to destabilize British politics.

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But along with these hesitations, there are also questions about how well Cameron really knew about the financial difficulties Greensell was going through, despite the fact that he always maintained he was unaware of the extent of his perilous exposure to companies in the red that, in the end, caused his downfall.

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