Former Chancellor George Osborne accused of ‘trading on ministerial contacts book’ over lucrative new BlackRock role
Mr Osborne has landed a role at asset management giant BlackRock on a speculated six-figure salary
FORMER Chancellor George Osborne was last night accused of “trading on his ministerial contacts book” over his lucrative new finance job.
Mr Osborne has landed a part-time advisory role at asset management giant BlackRock on a speculated six-figure salary.
According to the Treasury’s official records of ministerial meetings yesterday, Mr Osborne met his new firm BlackRock five times in his last two years in the Treasury with the final meeting coming last July - just days before he was sacked by Theresa May.
There is no suggestion a future job was discussed at any of these meetings.
John Mann, a Labour member of the Treasury committee said Mr Osborne was “trading on his ministerial contacts book”.
He told the : “This looks very bad. It is outrageous if he makes any contact at all with the Bank of England, the regulator or the Treasury.”
According to the Daily Mail, Acoba - the committee that approves ministerial business appointments - said in a letter that it had “no concerns” about the position because he had made no policy decisions relating to the firm’s interests.
But Acoba has now amended their earlier statement and said Mr Osborne did make decisions affecting the asset management industry, the Daily Mail report.
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Three years ago BlackRock reportedly welcomed Mr Osborne’s pension reforms which gave savers control over their retirement pots, according to past media reports. It said it was “uniquely positioned” to take advantage, according to reports.
Douglas Carswell of Ukip said: “This embarrassing bungle exposes Acoba for the Whitehall farce that it is.
“It is a committee of grandees who rubber stamp rather than scrutinise. Parliament should make this its business.”
A spokesman for Mr Osborne said last night: “BlackRock is a highly respected financial institution that employs many people here in the UK and helps British pensioners and savers get a better deal.
“Chancellors and other ministers have always met with them, and continue to do so, as they meet regularly with other major British employers – and the fact of those meetings is, rightly, made publicly available at the time.
“The independent Advisory Committee on Business Appointments is there to ensure that any appointments of ex-ministers are properly vetted.
“Not only have they cleared this appointment; but they explicitly say in their letter to Mr Osborne that 'none of the decisions from your time in office were specific to BlackRock; and the Treasury Permanent Secretary had no concerns about you taking up this post.'"
An Acoba spokesman said the advice letter had been changed because of a “secretarial error”.
BlackRock made no comment.