We can reveal that the newly-appointed Conservative Party chairman, Greg Hands, helped Luxe Lifestyle Ltd, a company closely associated with the then Chair of his local constituency party, Mark Higton, land a £25m ‘VIP’ PPE deal. This is despite the company having no experience in providing protective equipment.
The names of 50 firms given a fast-track ‘VIP lane’ route to securing lucrative Test and Trace contracts have at last been revealed, following our longstanding Freedom of Information battle with the Government.
Tory leadership candidate Rishi Sunak has launched a furious, misguided, attack on Good Law Project and its founder Jolyon Maugham QC for “wasting time and money” in the Courts. And he has threatened judges he calls “recidivist” – a word meaning the tendency of convicted criminals to continue to offend – with legislation to force them to act in accordance with his wishes.
If you have a bottomless pit of money, you can break the law with impunity by making it too expensive for people to go to Court. We increasingly see conduct with that flavour from this Government – but nothing quite like this: Government has estimated it will spend a staggering £1.2 million defending a challenge from Good Law Project. We only expect the hearing to take one day and the facts are simple. When the case was stayed, the costs were about £30,000. They repeatedly refused to give us the estimates of their costs so we could apply for a cap. Then, they told us they had spent over £600,000 and were continuing to spend.
By TruePublica: The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) support ministers in leading the nation’s health and social care and in their words – “to help people live more independent, healthier lives for longer.” Unfortunately, corruption by these ministers overtook them and billions in taxpayer funds have been blown.
The Government wasted over £9.9 billion on PPE, which is more than it would cost to give every nurse in the NHS a 100 per cent bonus on their salary.
The figure comes from the Department of Health’s Annual Report, which reveals it spent:
Cressida Dick has finally confirmed that the Met Police will investigate the parties held in No 10 Downing Street and Whitehall after we initiated formal legal proceedings against them.
Tomorrow, we’re in Court. The Government is appealing the High Court’s ruling that it acted unlawfully – that there was apparent bias – in its award of a contract to associates of Dominic Cummings and Michael Gove.
Late last night, Government published its list of the firms given red-carpet treatment in its lucrative ‘VIP’ lane – and the politicians and party donors who referred them.
Government was forced to release the names following a successful and long-running Freedom of Information battle by Good Law Project.
For months, Government has been refusing to hand over evidence in our challenge concerning Abingdon Health, the testing company awarded £85 million worth of contracts without competition. Yesterday we took Government to Court to fight for this evidence – and we had a good day.
This is a story that everyone in the country should hear. We’ve joined up with Led By Donkeys to expose the truth about the Government’s secret back-channel which allowed friends of the Conservative Party and other politically connected suppliers to secure billions of pounds of PPE contracts.
21 June 2021 — GoodLaw Project
Good Law Project is now able to reveal the names of six more companies awarded PPE contracts through the controversial ’VIP’ fast-track lane for associates of ministers and advisers. These six firms landed nearly half a billion pounds of public contracts – all without competition – and were uncovered in documents prised from Government in the course of our litigation:
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16 June 2021 — Dr Malcolm Kendrick
This article first appeared in RT.com https://www.rt.com/op-ed/526539-catastrophic-care-homes-matt-hancock/
As a GP working mainly with elderly patients in Care Homes and Intermediate Care I witnessed, at first hand, the absolute disaster that was the Government policy at the start of the COVID19 outbreak. Elderly patients who were COVID19 positive, or not tested, perhaps even negative, were simply shovelled out of hospitals and into care homes. ‘The hospitals must be cleared out… nothing else matters.’
9 June 2021 — Good Law Project
[Well kindof, as it seems the government just ignores the ruling and carries on with crony business as usual! WB]
Michael Gove broke the law by giving a contract to a communications agency run by long time associates of him and Dominic Cummings, the High Court has decided.
7 June 2021 — Good Law Project
Over the weekend the Mail on Sunday reported, quite explicitly, that our founder, Jo Maugham, is being “targeted by Ministers”. What is suggested is that Good Law Project is somehow “abusing” crowdfunding. But no evidence is given in support of that contention.
And it is false.
28 May 2021 — Good Law Project
Government gets a bona fide PPE offer from a would be supplier. The company has sourced the PPE, submitted a bid and passed through the technical checks. They’re close to signing on the dotted line. But at the eleventh hour they get dropped. Instead, Government buys the same thing from someone else. Someone who came in later but with close connections to Cabinet Ministers – and at an eye watering price.
26 May 2021 — Good Law Project
What should the campaigner do if he hears from an insider that a formal response to judicial review proceedings is “a work of fiction Government has created”? Should he close his ears? And if he is sent documents supporting that proposition, what then? What should he do if those documents show Ministers acting in ways their own lawyers – and external lawyers after that – told them was unlawful?
24 May 2021 — Good Law Project
Today in the High Court, Government’s lawyers set out their defence to our legal challenge over PPE contracts handed to “VIP” companies. Government claims that companies in the VIP Lane did not materially benefit from their special treatment, and that it was simply a different route by which they could win contracts.
The evidence tells a different story.
19 May 2021 — Good Law Project
Today the High Court heard our lawyers detail waste, mismanagement – and yet more special treatment for politically connected companies placed in the “VIP” Lane.
16 May 2021 — Good Law Project
On Tuesday, our legal challenge to the PPE procurement scandal will be heard in the High Court. It’s the first day of a mammoth five day hearing.
The New Dark Age 