Rowena Mason 

David Cameron to give speech for Mitt Romney’s Bain Capital

Address to US private equity firm could be a sign about how former PM intends to earn money after life in the Commons
  
  

David Cameron addresses the Conservative party conference in 2015
David Cameron does not have to make public any earnings from the speech because he has stepped down as an MP. Photograph: Paul Ellis/AFP/Getty Images

David Cameron is to give a speech for the private equity firm Bain Capital in one of his first public engagements since his departure from No 10.

It is understood the former prime minister will address a private event for the US company, which was co-founded by former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney and bought a blood plasma company from the NHS in 2012.

Cameron stepped down as an MP, after taking a summer holiday, meaning any earnings from the speech will not have to be publicly disclosed.

He also does not have to seek approval for the one-off engagement from the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments, which only requires former ministers to get permission for regular jobs.

Cameron has given little indication of his plans for life after Downing Street other than chairing a panel of patrons on the expanded National Citizen Service – a summer camp initiative he set up during his first months in office designed to instil social responsibility in young people as part of his “big society”.

In an article for the Daily Telegraph, he pledged to try to make the non-military national service “a rite of passage” for every British teenager.

But his Bain engagement could be a sign that he intends to earn money on the lucrative international speaking circuit.

George Osborne was last month given permission to sign up to a US company that already has Tony Blair and Gordon Brown on its books.

The Advisory Committee on Business said the former chancellor intended make speeches on the current political environment after registering with the Washington Speakers Bureau.

Osborne said he expected his decision would result in one or two days’ speaking a month, and that he would personally ensure that each event involved no conflict of interest.

Bain Capital declined to comment.

 

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