Accountant Greening shines in Treasury questions

Economic secretary
Justine
Greening emerged as the shining star on the Treasury front bench
when the department’s ministerial team faced its first Commons questions
session.

The former PwC accountant and MP for Putney gave a combative and spirited
performance outperforming even chancellor George Osborne, who performed
confidently but failed to shine.

Financial secretary
Mark
Hoban, a former accountant with PwC, was absent from the team when
it faced its first grilling from MPs.

Exchequer secretary David Gauke, a former member of City solicitors
MacFarlanes, was cautious and halting while new chief secretary Danny Alexander,
rapidly promoted to replace David Laws who quit in a row over his expenses, was
clearly anxious but competently hammered home his message: that cuts are his and
the government’s top priority.

Most of the exchanges concerned macro-economic issues, but at one point Gauke
underlined the government’s commitment to preventing avoidance through
deterrence and a robust legislative framework, denying claims £120bn a year is
being lost in tax due but unpaid – HMRC put the figure at £40bn.

Further reading:

Accountant
takes senior role in Lib-Con reshuffle

Profile:
Justine Greening, Conservative MP for Putney