To everyone’s surprise, Rishi Sunak’s recent cabinet reshuffle involved the unexpected return of former Prime Minister, David Cameron, as Foreign Secretary, the UK’s no.1 diplomat. But his appointment has brought back questions about his past dealings with China.
With the departure of controversial Home Secretary Suella Braverman, married to manager at luxury car firm Mercedes, Real Braverman, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was forced into yet another cabinet reshuffle for this tempestuous Tory government. A name few people were expecting on the list was former Prime Minister, David Cameron. Cameron has been out of work since he resigned in ignominy following the shocking 2016 Brexit result that has led to political and social upheaval in the UK over the last few years.
Cameron’s return to government, however, has raised questions about his political integrity and past dealings with the Chinese government. Following his departure from No. 10, Cameron embarked on a fundraising campaign in the framework of his UK-China fund, designed to reinforce ties between London and Beijing. His target during trips in 2017 and 2018 was China’s sovereign wealth fund, the CIC.
Cameron’s dubious corporate past
David Cameron’s career has never been without controversy. Member of the infamous Bullingdon club at Oxford University, his corporate career following his resignation in 2016 has been mired in scandal after working for a software company whose founder was accused of sexual harassment, and lobbying for a biotech company who went on to win a £123 million government contract.
What’s more, he was a key player in Britain’s biggest lobbying scandal involving the firm Greensill, for whom he attempted to change the UK’s rules on Covid-19 banking loans. The company paid him millions of dollars, and criminal investigations remain ongoing in the UK, Germany and Switzerland, although he is not directly implicated in them.
Cameron and China
Cameron’s return as the British Foreign Secretary, however, has raised real concerns amongst the political community about his ties to Xi Jinping and possible questions about national security. His work with his UK-China fund and his involvement in China’s controversial Port City Colombo project in Sri Lanka has prompted many to call for the full disclosure of his business dealings with China and how he may or may not have profited from them.
Anneliese Dodds, chair of the Labour party, has called for Cameron to disclose all of his financial interests. “This must include interests he has held and divested himself from prior to re-entering the cabinet,” she wrote to Rishi Sunak on Friday.
She said:
“The British public will, quite rightly, want to know that the foreign secretary is solely dedicated to representing Britain on the world stage, not promoting his own private interests. It further raises concerns about potential conflicts of interest if the foreign secretary has been in negotiations with a foreign government about funding a project from which he would have personally profited.”
Calls for full disclosure are linking to increase as Cameron settles in to his new role as Foreign Secretary at a time when global crises such as the war in the Ukraine and the Israel-Gaza conflict continue to shake the foundations of our global community.
Read more:
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⋙ Boris Johnson's career: From sacked journalist to disgraced Prime Minister
