Who is popular today?

This meticulous study reveals the greed and gullibility of the ex-prime minister whose endorsement of Australian financier Lex Greensill tells us much about how politicians operateModern corruption is a refined process for sophisticated people. Urbane actors enter the political equivalent of a “buy now, pay later” (BNPL) agreement. Politicians or civil servants grant a shady financial institution or incompetent arms manufacturer access to decision-making and public money. No agreement needs to have been reached. No wads of cash change hands. But after the civil servant retires or politician leaves parliament, he can expect an immensely rewarding job. The sole benefit of the multibillion collapse of Greensill Capital in 2021 was that it illuminated BNPL politics as no other scandal has.Lex Greensill and David Cameron were so made for each other they wanted to be each other. Greensill grew up on a sugar cane farm in northern Queensland. He escaped to a job in Sydney’s financial sector and then to Morgan Stanley’s London office. He stood out even in that world. His colleagues called him “the demon” and “the psychopath”. He told them he wanted “to make billions and billions of pounds”. Continue reading...