A former senior civil servant who held jobs at both Greensill Capital and the Cabinet Office has defended his appointment, as he rejected suggestions he was “double-hatting” as “not appropriate”.
Defending his dual role, which emerged during the Greensill lobbying scandal, Bill Crothers described it as a “transitional arrangement” as he departed public service, and insisted: “No conflict happened”.
The arrangement came under intense scrutiny earlier this year, as Sir Eric Pickles, the chair of the government’s lobbying watchdog, demanded to know why the Cabinet Office had allowed the situation, described as “shocking” by Labour.
Mr Crothers had worked as the government’s chief procurement officer and remained a civil service employee when he joined the now-collapsed firm as an a part-time adviser to its board in 2015.
The emergence of the overlap in Mr Crothers’ role in both government and Greensill prompted Simon Case, the cabinet secretary, to order every government department to trawl through their staff’s employment to examine any other cases of paid employment outside the civil service.
The rapid review found dozens of senior civil servants held paid employment alongside their role in government, but added “they are often providing contributions to wider public life — for example as a magistrate, reservist, school governor or charity trustee”.
Appearing at the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee, Mr Crothers insisted: “My intention was the completely follow the rules in spirit and in form. I was transparent in all that I did and no conflict happened.”
He claimed that during the summer of 2015 he had several conversations with the former cabinet secretary Lord Jeremy Heywood, who passed away in 2018, and the ex permanent secretary John Manzoni, regarding him “transitioning back into the private sector”.
“In the press the phrase ‘double hatting’ has been used and I just feel that is not appropriate,” he told MPs.
“This was a transitional arrangement and indeed both Jeremy Heywood and John referred to it as a transitional arrangement.”
Mr Crothers, who suggested he was being recruited for his previous private sector experience, added: “When I had those conversations with Jeremy Heywood and John Manzoni, I was clear I was becoming an adviser to Greensill and in due course would become a director.”
The former civil service employee also suggested Lord Heywood had told him Lex Greensill was a “man of the highest integrity and he was supportive of me joining Greensill Capital’s board”.
Mr Crothers, however, declined to say how much he was paid by the firm, only telling MPs: “I just don’t think it’s appropriate to be specific.
“What I can tell you is that it was commensurate with the income that I’d been earning with Accenture as a senior partner. It was substantially more than a civil servant.”
