Former British Prime Minister David Cameron nearly abandoned plans for a $1 billion British-Chinese investment fund he launched after relations between London and Beijing deteriorated, the Financial Times said May 3, citing people familiar with the matter.
The British government announced on April 12 that it had opened an investigation into the bankrupt financial firm Greensill Capital over alleged lobbying violations by Cameron, who had worked as an adviser to the firm. Cameron joined the firm in 2018. Recent reports have revealed that Cameron had privately contacted current finance minister Rishi Sunak, health minister Matthew Hancock and others to benefit the firm during his tenure there. Greensill Capital, which specialized in supply chain financing before it went bust, was founded by Lex Greensill, an Australian banker who served as a senior adviser to Prime Minister David Cameron.
Cameron, who was embroiled in the Greensill Capital scandal, agreed in 2017 to develop a fund to seek partnership opportunities between the U.K. and China that would focus on investment projects in technology, healthcare, energy and manufacturing. But potential investors in the investment fund, including Standard Chartered and HSBC, were reluctant to commit to the plan, despite the project’s early support from the British and Chinese governments, the latest news showed.
Reports say relations between Britain and China have deteriorated over the past year, with London criticizing Beijing’s crackdown on civil rights in Hong Kong and its treatment of the Uighur minority in Xinjiang. The UK also decided to ban Huawei from supplying the UK’s 5G mobile network. The proposal to set up a British-Chinese investment fund was reportedly put forward by Conservative MP Peter Gummer, a Cameron ally who said “there has been virtually no progress in the last two years” and said the plan for the fund had almost died. Cameron’s spokesman said only that “the Sino-British investment fund has not yet been established.”
During his tenure as British prime minister from 2010 to 2016, Cameron and his finance minister, George Osborne, engaged in a charm offensive with Beijing, seeking Chinese investment in British infrastructure. Describing the investment fund proposal as a product of the “golden age” of Sino-British relations, Cameron first discussed the proposal with Beijing authorities in September 2017, just weeks before he was appointed vice chairman of the fund. The plan to establish a UK-China investment fund has been described as Cameron’s most ambitious business initiative since he stepped down as prime minister in the wake of Britain’s failed EU referendum in 2016.
But the lack of progress on the UK-China investment fund proposal and his involvement in the Greenhill affair highlight Cameron’s struggles with a number of business initiatives since leaving the prime ministership. In response to the Greenhill Capital affair, Cameron has been called to testify before the House of Commons Treasury Select Committee of the British Parliament, which is conducting a related investigation. The report said Cameron had been charging at least £120,000 per hour to speak through a speaking agency, the Washington Speakers Bureau, which marketed him as “one of the most prominent global influencers of the early 21st century. However, during the new pandemic, these efforts were scuttled.
In contrast to Cameron, Osborne enjoyed a brilliant new chapter in his career after leaving government. He was offered several positions, including editor of the London Evening Standard and a senior adviser at asset manager BlackRock. Osborne gave up those positions in February to join Robey Warshaw, a boutique investment bank.
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