The Greensill affair presents an opportunity for a reset in politics and Whitehall, which could restore public confidence
After the dust settles over the Greensill affair, I suspect we will find that the lack of judgment over David Cameron’s approaches to ministers is less important than the general failure to address what has become a casual approach to conflicts of interest amongst many in government and politics.
My respected predecessor as chair of the public administration select committee, former MP Tony Wright, and I both produced a series of reports over 15 years about the failure of successive governments to manage the relationships between business and government in a more transparent way. There is nothing wrong with a private citizen wanting to make money, but we have a system that has allowed the lines between public service and private gain to become blurred. This is both shameful, and unfairly shaming of the majority in public office and in politics who do have good values and attitudes, but who are all tarred by the same brush. Much of the wrongdoing is exaggerated, but the worst instances of people using public positions to enrich themselves are utterly corrosive of public trust in government. This must end. This crisis presents an opportunity for a reset in politics and Whitehall, which could begin to restore public confidence.
