David Cameron made $10m (£7.2m) from Greensill Capital before the financial firm collapsed, it has been revealed.
Documents seen by the BBC’s Panorama programme show the former Conservative prime minister cashed in $4.5 shares in 2019, was paid a $1m annual salary as a part-time “adviser”, and also got a $700,000 bonus.
The company left investors and UK taxpayers facing huge losses after collapsing.
Mr Cameron hit the headlines in relation to the bank after it emerged he was using his closeness to current cabinet ministers to try to persuade them to underwrite its loans with taxpayer cash.
He was unsuccessful in his approaches, though the bank was ultimately given access to another Covid-19 loan facility.
Mr Cameron has been cleared of breaking any lobbying rules over the affair, but MPs said he showed a “significant lack of judgement”.
Labour’s deputy leader Angela Rayner said: “It is utterly ludicrous that David Cameron walked away with $10m for two-and-a-half years’ part-time work for a company that collapsed, risking thousands of pounds of taxpayers’ money.
“The fact that David Cameron was cleared of any wrongdoing, proves that the rules that are supposed to regulate lobbying are completely unfit for purpose. It’s created a wild west where the Conservatives think it’s one rule for them and another for everyone else.”
She added: “The system causes more harm than good by giving a veil of legitimacy to the rampant cronyism, sleaze and dodgy lobbying that is polluting our democracy under Boris Johnson and the Conservatives.
“Labour will ban former prime ministers from ever taking on lobbying jobs after they leave office. We will overhaul the current broken system and replace it with an Integrity and Ethics Commission that will stamp out sleaze.
“This is money most of us cannot even imagine, but for David Cameron it was just a part time gig using his Tory contacts for huge personal gain.”
Mr Cameron’s spokesman said: “He acted in good faith at all times and there was no wrongdoing in any of the actions he took.”
He added that the former prime minister “did not receive anything like the figures quoted by Panorama”.
