Chair of committee which exposed civil servant’s Greensill role not seen ‘anything like it’

Politics

The chair of the watchdog which exposed how the former government chief commercial officer was able to take a job at Greensill Capital while still working in Whitehall has said he’s “not really come across anything like it before”.

Lord Pickles’ Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (Acoba) revealed how Bill Crothers worked as a part-time adviser at Greensill for the last three months he was at the Civil Service.

Lord Pickles is giving evidence to the Commons Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee (PACAC) amid “acute concern” over the affair, which has seen the government accused of a “return to Tory sleaze”.

“It’s fair to say, to misquote PG Wodehouse, my eyebrows did raise the full quarter inch when I heard about it,” he told the committee.

“I have been involved in public service a long time and I have not really come across anything like it before.”

Lord Pickles said it was not unusual for civil servants to have second jobs, but “certainly not at this level”.

Products You May Like

Articles You May Like

2025 Grammys: Kim Gordon, Clairo, Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, and More Nominated for Best Alternative Music Awards
Full list of 115 Post Office crown branches that could close under transformation plan | UK News
Antisemitic rioters target Israeli football fans as disorder unfolds in Amsterdam | World News
8 Best Minimalist Sneakers: Low-key, High Profile in 2024
Stockton police investigating after man, 46, and woman, 22, shot dead hours apart