P2P champion John Glen resigns as City minister
City minister John Glen has become the latest member of parliament to resign from government in protest at the prime minister’s leadership.
Glen was named economic secretary to the Treasury and City minister in January 2018, and has spent much of the past four years championing fintech and peer-to-peer lending causes.
In his resignation letter to Boris Johnson, Glen said: “Looking back over my tenure, I am proud to have helped steer the City of London through a period of uncertainty following our decision to leave the EU…
“However, recent events concerning the handling of the appointment of the former deputy chief whip, and the poor judgement you have shown, have made it impossible for me to square continued service with my conscience.”
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Johnson has come under fire in recent days after it was revealed that he was aware of sexual assault allegations against deputy chief whip Chris Pincher in 2019 but continued to promote him both as foreign minister and as prime minister. On Monday (4 July), Pincher resigned after being accused of groping two men in a private club.
A number of high profile political resignations have followed, including former chancellor Rishi Sunak, former health secretary Sajid Javid, and more than two dozen others.
For P2P lenders, Glen has been the face of financial reform in government. He has been vocal in his support of fintech innovation, stating that fintech can help improve financial inclusion and take action against climate change through innovation.
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Earlier this year, Glen presented the UK Prospectus Regime Review Outcome, which stated that the government is “committed to ensuring” that the crowdfunding sector “continues to thrive” with plans to cut the red tape for raising finance.
He has also been highly critical of the City regulator’s handling of London Capital & Finance (LCF) and helped to set up a £120m government-funded compensation scheme for LCF bondholders.
More recently, he has been spearheading an effort to rewrite the UK’s financial rules for insurance, capital markets and cryptocurrencies, as well as drawing up new objectives for financial regulators post-Brexit.
“When we met earlier this year, you asked me to commit to carry on working to deliver vital reforms for our world leading financial services,” Glen said in his letter to Johnson.
“Those reforms are now ready to be presented to parliament, and they represent a fundamental reset of the regulatory framework for the industry and consumers.”
Sunak was due to give a Mansion House speech on the reforms on July 19. It is not yet known if Zahawi will keep this commitment.
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