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Lord David Cameron is advising a private equity firm founded and chaired by Jeb Bush, the brother of former US president George W Bush, his latest post since he left government last year.
Cameron, a former British prime minister and more recently foreign secretary, has taken up a part-time, paid role as a member of Finback Investment Partners’s leadership advisory council, the UK government’s appointments watchdog disclosed on Wednesday.
Finback, founded in 2017, manages over $800mn in assets according to US regulatory filings, and has invested in businesses such as insurance brokerages, data centres and software companies.
The Advisory Committee on Business Appointments said Cameron’s role with Finback was “focused on providing strategic advice to augment the firm’s expertise and network”.
The watchdog, which advises high-level UK officials who take up roles outside of government, said Cameron had not met with Finback while in office and that his new role would not involve contacts with government.
“Whilst limited, there remains a risk you may be seen to draw on contacts in the private sector and foreign governments only gained as a result of your recent role in office,” it added.
Cameron and Finback did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Bush, a former governor of Florida, made an unsuccessful bid for the Republican presidential candidacy in the 2016 US election cycle.
Cameron led the UK from 2010-16 before resigning as prime minister when the country voted to leave the EU. In November 2023 he returned as foreign secretary in Rishi Sunak’s government until the Conservatives were voted out of power last July.
He was previously criticised by MPs for showing a “significant lack of judgment” over his lobbying efforts on behalf of Greensill Capital, a supply chain financing firm he had joined in 2018 and which later collapsed in 2021.
Cameron sought to secure greater access for Greensill to government stimulus programmes at the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, bombarding cabinet ministers and officials via text, WhatsApp and phone calls. He has noted that his lobbying did not break any rules.
Since leaving office last year, Cameron has also rejoined London-based hedge fund Caxton and Florida-based freight payments business PayCargo in advisory roles.
