David Cameron has new questions to answer over Lex Greensill’s business card, Labour says

The Labour Party has issued fresh demands for an investigation into Lex Greensill’s relationship with David Cameron, after it apparently unearthed the financier’s old No 10 business card.

The card described Mr Greensill as a “senior adviser” to the then-prime minister, and included what appeared to be a direct landline telephone number and Downing Street email address.

The card was handed to Labour by a business contact who said they received it in the summer of 2012, according to the party.

Last week a government spokesperson said: “Lex Greensill acted as a supply chain finance advisor from 2012 to 2015 and as a crown representative for three years from 2013.

“His appointment was approved in the normal manner and he was not paid for either role.”

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When contacted by The Independent on Tuesday night, a Cabinet Office spokesperson said the description of Mr Greensill’s role on the business card did not change any details in that statement.

But Labour’s shadow chancellor, Anneliese Dodds, said it raised “further serious questions about the special access Lex Greensill was granted to the heart of government” and that a “full, transparent and thorough investigation” was needed.

“The public have a right to know what happened here,” she added.

Mr Cameron is under pressure to set out his relationship with Mr Greensill, who, an investigation by The Sunday Times alleged, enriched himself through a government-backed pharmacy loan scheme he designed after Mr Cameron gave him access to 11 different Whitehall departments and agencies during his time at No 10.

Greensill Capital, the financial services company he later founded, went on to provide funds for the scheme and to employ Mr Cameron after he left office. It has since collapsed. The report on Sunday said Mr Greensill was understood to have denied making large returns from a pharmacy deal.

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The Registrar of Consultant Lobbyists watchdog concluded last week that Mr Cameron did not break his own lobbying rules in trying to secure government help for Greensill Capital before it went into administration, because he was an employee  – so was not required to declare himself on the register of consultant lobbyists.

Business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng said on Tuesday that “David Cameron did absolutely nothing wrong”, telling reporters it was time for people to “just move on”.

“People have looked into his role, people looked into the fact that he may or may not have contacted people, officials in the Treasury,” Mr Kwarteng said. “As far as I know, everything was above board and he’s been largely exonerated.”

Labour is calling on the Committee on Standards in Public Life to launch an investigation into the matter, assessing specifically how much influence Mr Greensill was permitted under the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government.

“There are too many unanswered questions,” party leader Sir Keir Starmer said on Tuesday.

The standards committee has said it does not investigate individual cases, but plans to look more widely at issues of lobbying and transparency.

The Independent has contacted Mr Cameron’s office and attempted to contact Mr Greensill for comment. Neither man has yet spoken publicly about the affair.