More sleaze, David Cameron's appointee as Head of Quango managing public funds resigns, he's a bankrupt.

Tony Caplin resigns as quango chairman

A businessman appointed by the prime minister to head a quango managing public funds has resigned after it emerged he had been declared bankrupt.

The organisation is responsible for multi-million pound loans to local councils for infrastructure projects.

A Conservative spokesman said Mr Caplin "should have declared he was bankrupt", and Labour described his appointment as "astonishing".

The Mail on Sunday reported that Mr Caplin had been made bankrupt in 2012.

Whitehall rules require anyone serving on a public body who is declared bankrupt to inform the relevant minister immediately.

Set out in a guide to government departments making and managing public appointments, the rules state: "Any publicly appointed person who becomes bankrupt should immediately notify the chair of the body, the person who appointed them or the sponsoring department.

"The sponsoring department should then examine the terms and conditions of the appointee and whether there is a mandatory or discretionary statutory bar on remaining in office."

A Conservative Party spokesman insisted Mr Caplin had no role in the Conservative Party, nor was he contributing to the manifesto.

"He was appointed to a number of public bodies by the previous government," he said.

"He was re-appointed to the PWLB by the prime minister. He should have declared he was bankrupt.

"This has been pointed out to him, and as a result he has resigned."

Prime Minister David Cameron has been accused of a "serious error of judgement" over the matter.

Shadow chief secretary to the Treasury Chris Leslie said the government had questions to answer about what it knew, and when.

"The Treasury were pursuing Mr Caplin for hundreds of thousands of pounds," Mr Leslie said. He was made bankrupt in 2012.

"He was in charge of billions of lending by the Treasury and he's clearly at the centre of a long web of connections across the Conservative Party.

"He was their chief operating officer. I think we need to know now who knew what and when - and we'll be pressing No 10 to say so."

'Serious questions'

BBC political correspondent Louise Stewart said that Mr Caplin "had close links at the highest levels of the Conservative Party".

She said that he had helped the party write its manifesto in 2005 and when he was made bankrupt he had debts of £3m.

She said "anyone in charge of a body like that, particularly one which deals with huge sums of money - £60bn in public loans - needs to divulge their financial situation" if found bankrupt.

Mr Caplin was appointed to the PWLB - which originated in 1793 - by the Labour government in 2003.

Chris Leslie Shadow chief secretary to the Treasury Chris Leslie says No 10 has questions to answer

He was then reappointed to the board and made chairman by Mr Cameron 10 years later.

According to the PWLB website, Mr Caplin's appointment had been due to end in 2015.

The former Conservative Party chief operating officer has also served on a number of public bodies, including the North West London Hospitals NHS Trust, where he was chairman until January last year.

Mr Caplin, who is a former chairman of stockbrokers Panmure Gordon, is also reported to have left his post on the Medical Research Council.

Senior Labour MP Margaret Hodge, who chairs the Commons Public Accounts Committee, told The Mail on Sunday the revelations raised "serious questions" that should be investigated.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-27090737

Surely, when he was made bankrupt in 2012 and owed the Treasury millions, someone in authority must have known.

He was a former Conservative Chief Operating Officer for the Tory party and used to work for Cameron's dad's firm!!! Jobs for the boys right enough.

The Coulson appointment was bad enough and now this just shows that Cameron and the Tory party don't have a clue. Where were the proper checks being carried out? No-one knew he was a bankrupt and bankrupt because of unpaid taxes?

What a shower of chancers this lot are. Get them out.

It beggers belief really.

     

ALL those Financiers, Tories, 1%'ers, lobbyists and their lapdog politicians are a wunch of bankers...