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David Cameron's former policy chief declares the UK 'fantastically corrupt' after Prime Minister's gaffe

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David Cameron's former policy chief declares the UK 'fantastically corrupt' after Prime Minister's gaffe Empty David Cameron's former policy chief declares the UK 'fantastically corrupt' after Prime Minister's gaffe

Post by Ria Fri May 13, 2016 11:18 am


David Cameron's former policy chief declares the UK 'fantastically corrupt' after Prime Minister's gaffe

Former Number 10 policy guru Steve Hilton warned against complacency after David Cameron's embarrassing moment with the Queen

David Cameron's former policy chief has described the UK as 'fantastically corrupt', after the Prime Minister made an embarrassing gaffe ahead of his 'anti-corruption' summit.

Mr Cameron was caught on camera boasting in front of the Queen that some 'fantastically corrupt countries' including Nigeria and Afghanistan were coming to his summit, which begins on Thursday in London.

David Cameron's former policy chief has described the UK as 'fantastically corrupt', after the Prime Minister made an embarrassing gaffe ahead of his 'anti-corruption' summit.

Mr Cameron was caught on camera boasting in front of the Queen that some 'fantastically corrupt countries' including Nigeria and Afghanistan were coming to his summit, which begins on Thursday in London.

But his top policy guru during the coalition years took to Twitter in response, warning the PM against complacency.

Steve Hilton said: "Before anyone gets too complacent: UK fantastically corrupt too - more than Brazil, France, USA says The Economist".

Mr Hilton is one of David Cameron 's oldest friends in politics, and was one of his closest advisors in his early years in Downing Street.

The former Number 10 'blue-sky thinking' expert referred to the Economist's ' Crony Capital Index ', published last week.

The ranking is compiled by calculating the amount of a country's wealth is owned by people who have made their money through "chumminess with government".

The least 'corrupt' country on the list is Germany, whereas the most 'corrupt is Russia.

Britain places slightly more 'corrupt' than Brazil, but slightly less 'corrupt' than South Africa.

In January, Mr Hilton hit out over Google's 'sweetheart tax deal' with HMRC.

He spoke out after we revealed ministers had 25 official meetings with Google in just 19 months .

Mr Hilton, who worked by the PM's side in Downing Street until 2012, warned there was a "growing sense" that firms are "above the law" and engage in "behind the scenes lobbying to get their way".

He declined to comment directly on Google's settlement for 10 years of back taxes and insisted the firm "were abiding by the law" when asked by BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

But he said: "I think there is a growing sense of companies that are so big and so dominant, not just in the marketplace but in the way they relate to governments, their lobbying efforts and so on, that they really are above the law.

"The truth is that those of us who really believe in the power of business and capitalism to do good things for society, and I'm definitely one of those people, we've really got to make clear to businesses that they've got a responsibility to behave in a way that earns public trust.

"It's about lobbying.

"I do think we've got to shine a much stronger spotlight on the behind the scenes lobbying that businesses do for government and civil servants and other organisations like the EU to get their way."

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/david-camerons-former-policy-chief-7940711


Ria
Ria

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