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| - British inventor James Dyson was on Wednesday drawn into a wider row about privileged government access after the BBC reported he personally texted Prime Minister Boris Johnson in the early days of the coronavirus outbreak. The corporation said that the bagless vacuum cleaner innovator asked Johnson to "fix" the tax status of his employees after the government appealed for his company's help to make emergency ventilators. The Singapore-based developer made a direct appeal after receiving no reply from the Treasury when he sought clarity about whether his staff would have to pay extra tax if they came to Britain to help. In the March 2020 exchange, Johnson reportedly replied: "I will fix it tomo! We need you. It looks fantastic." Dyson told the BBC his firm did not receive "any benefit" from the ventilator project, and all he was doing was "seeking compliance with the rules". The government for its part maintained it did everything possible to secure the equipment, at a time when there were real fears the health service could run out of ventilators. But revelations of direct access to the prime minister come as Johnson and his government are under pressure about allegations of cronyism in the awarding of contracts. Johnson faced a grilling in parliament from main opposition Labour leader Keir Starmer about government "sleaze" involving preferential access given to Dyson and the failed financial firm Greensill, at a time when millions of Britons have no similar recourse amid pandemic uncertainty. The Conservative leader said he would "make absolutely no apology at all for shifting heaven and earth... to secure ventilators and save lives". A series of investigations have been launched into claims of conflicts of interest between the public and private sector involving senior ministers and civil servants. Labour called the latest revelations about Dyson's direct access to Johnson "jaw-dropping" and said the prime minister must now agree to a full inquiry into lobbying. A drip-feed of revelations over the collapse of Greensill has raised questions about cosy ties between UK politicians, civil servants and big business as the government spends lavishly on fighting the pandemic. Greensill Capital risks turning into the worst Westminster scandal since 2009, when many MPs were found to have fiddled their expenses, fuelling public disgust with the political class in the years leading up to the 2016 Brexit referendum. David Cameron, the prime minister who made a catastrophic bet that Britain would opt to stay in the European Union, stepped down after the vote. He went on to become a paid advisor to Greensill, amassing share options potentially worth millions. The company imploded last month, threatening thousands of jobs at companies that relied on its supply chain financing, including at the steel empire of Indian-British billionaire Sanjeev Gupta. Johnson has since launched a probe into the lobbying of senior officials, including finance minister Rishi Sunak, before the collapse. In total, the government has budgeted more than £400 billion ($550 billion) to deal with the health crisis across the board. jwp-jit/phz/tgb
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