THE Tories are under increasing pressure to face up to a cronyism inquiry after it was revealed David Cameron lobbied Rishi Sunak to grant millions of pounds in loans to a finance company he was advising.
The Sunday Times reported the former prime minister sent a number of texts to the Chancellor's private phone asking for support for Greensill through the Government's Covid Corporate Financing Facility (CCFF).
Most of the messages went unanswered and the company eventually went bust after its loan application was rejected.
Sunak was understood to have stood by officials who felt the company did not qualify for the scheme and referred Cameron to senior officials at the Treasury.
Those contacted by the former premier were said to include Tom Scholar, the permanent secretary, and Charles Roxburgh, the second permanent secretary.
The Treasury later made a final decision to reject the company's application.
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Labour’s shadow chancellor Anneliese Dodds is demanding an inquiry.
She said: "Rishi Sunak already had questions to answer as to why Greensill was given so much more access to the Treasury than other Covid lenders.
"The suggestion that David Cameron was also contacting the Chancellor directly to further Greensill's commercial interests raises even bigger concerns.
"This is public money, and the processes involved in decision-making should be fully transparent and beyond reproach. We need a full and thorough investigation into what's happened here."
A Treasury spokeswoman commented: "Treasury officials regularly meet with stakeholders to discuss our economic response to Covid.
"The meetings in question were primarily about broadening the scope of CCFF to enable access for providers of supply chain finance, which - following a call for evidence and discussions with several other firms within the sector - we decided against and informed the businesses concerned."
The Sunday Times said that Cameron did not respond to a request to comment.
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