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The Good Law Project

Lawrence Fox got £5m from somewhere to start up the Reclaim Party.

I hear that while Morrissey will be the Goverment Czar for Music, Fox while be Media Czar
 
On Wednesday 20th October, Good Law Project is hosting a live Q&A with our founder Jo Maugham and our Legal Director Gemma Abbott. It’s a chance to find out more about who we are and the cases we are working on, from our challenge to politicians’ use of private email accounts, to the politicisation of the Charity Commission.

Here are the details of the event:

What: Good Law Project Live: Q&A with Jo Maugham and Gemma Abbott

When: 1-1.45pm on Wednesday 20th October

Where: Facebook or Twitter

Click below to RSVP:

RSVP
You don’t need to download anything to watch the event - just log on toFacebook or Twitter at 1pm on Wednesday. If you’re keen to watch but can’t attend on the day, don’t worry, a video of the event will be uploaded toYouTube the following day.

See you there,
 
“Our challenge over Ministers’ persistent use of private emails and messaging apps like WhatsApp and Signal for Government business has just been given a huge boost: the High Court has granted us permission to proceed on all grounds.

This follows a hearing yesterday before two judges in the High Court – a rare occurrence at such an early stage of a case, but a sign perhaps of the importance of the issues involved.

This is a significant development. We will now have the opportunity to highlight the inadequacy of Government’s policies on private emails and messaging apps. The High Court will also hear of serious and persistent breaches of these policies by the Prime Minister, disgraced ex-Health Secretary Matt Hancock, Lord Bethell and other senior decision-makers.

This case goes to the heart of the fight for Government transparency. It’s taken months and months of work to get us here – and has only been possible because of regular donations from people like you.

Conducting Government business away from official channels not only flies in the face of Ministers’ legal obligations to preserve official records about key decisions – from care homes to PPE – it also severely undermines their ability to comply with the Freedom of Information Act and their duty of candour to the Courts.

2020 was the worst year on record for UK Government secrecy. They seem determined to keep it up. We are determined to stop them.

Our Judicial Review will be heard over three days alongside another case brought by The Citizens and Foxglove, which tackles some of the same grounds as our claim. We will let you know as soon as we have a Court date.

Good Law Project only exists thanks to donations from ordinary people across the UK. If you’re in a position to support our work, you can do so here.”

Some very good progress today!
 
Yet more Tory sleaze. It really is a bottomless pit of corruption and trough-feeding:

An investigation by Good Law Project can reveal that the partner of Michelle Donelan, the Minister of State for Universities, heads up the commercial unit at a PPE company that has been awarded numerous PPE contracts. Stronghold Global have landed deals to supply NHS hospitals, Government Covid testing sites and universities.

The potential conflict has yet to be declared by the Minister in the latest published register of interests – despite Government guidance requiring ministers to declare any interests that “might reasonably be perceived to be directly relevant to that particular Minister’s public duties”.

Donelan’s partner, Tom Turner, is the Commercial Head at family-owned firm Stronghold Global. Since the onset of the pandemic, the company has sold 20 million units of PPE to three hospital trusts: North Bristol, Sheffield Teaching Hospital Foundation, and University College London Hospital Foundation.

In March, Turner’s firm announced a partnering deal with facilities management giant Mitie to provide PPE to the Government’s Covid-19 test centres located throughout the country. The huge contract awarded to Mitie by the Department of Health and Social Care to service the testing centres is worth a staggering £365 million – with the option for this to increase in value.

Stronghold has also provided goods to the University of Bolton and HM Revenue & Customs, according to the company’s website.

Recent reports suggest Tom Turner’s father Benjamin Turner has also landed lucrative Government PPE deals. Benjamin is a director at Toffeln Ltd, a shoe-making firm that landed a £1.1m contract from the DHSC in April 2020 to supply visors. A deal awarded without competition.

A spokesperson for the Cabinet Office said: “The Minister has fully complied with the Ministerial Code to the satisfaction of the Independent Adviser.

“It would be wrong to suggest there is any conflict of interest. The Minister’s role at DfE has no involvement with PPE procurement decisions or the business of the company her partner works for.

“The Ministerial Code sets out the process by which Ministers should declare and manage their interests, working with their Permanent Secretary and the Independent Adviser on Ministers Interests. The Independent Adviser oversees the publication of the List of Ministers interests where they are relevant.”
Good Law Project has approached the Department for Education and Stronghold for comment.

The deeper we dig, the more we uncover. We will continue to expose the PPE procurement scandal.

Good Law Project only exists thanks to donations from ordinary people across the UK. If you’re in a position to support our work, you can do so here.
 
And there's more...

EXCLUSIVE: Suffolk at centre of multi million alleged cover-up of government PPE scandal

Peter Thurlow
November 4, 2021


Thousands of containers of PPE have been stored across sites close to Felixstowe in Suffolk for the past year. A new addition, near Eye, has been added with containers alleged to contain PPE.

https://eastangliabylines.co.uk/exclusive-suffolk-at-centre-of-multi-million-alleged-cover-up-of-government-ppe-scandal/

The Good Law Project are aware of this, thank goodness.

 
I was aware a long while back - last year - that Felixstowe docks were allegedly choked up with containers of useless PPE.
 
Great to see Good Law Project taking on this particular festering pile of shite. Time to bung another £20 in the pot I reckon:

When it comes to the Prime Minister’s allies, there’s a pattern emerging in Downing Street. When Boris Johnson doesn’t like the outcome of an official process, he tries to rip up the rules and start again.

We saw it with the Owen Paterson scandal and we’re seeing it again now with the rigged appointment process for the new Chair of media regulator Ofcom.

Paul Dacre is the former editor of the Daily Mail of 26 years, and Johnson’s preferred candidate for the top job at Ofcom. He’s in a bit of a pickle though, given that an interview panel deemed Mr Dacre “not appointable” just a few months ago.

But that’s not stopping ministers, who are now shamelessly pushing to appoint Mr Dacre by adjusting the requirements of the role and re-running the recruitment process with a different interview panel. The ad for the role now includes an amended person specification, from which the requirement for the Chair to work “collegiately” has been removed.

Dacre is being allowed to reapply, even in the face of calls for him to be banned from doing so by a number of Conservative MPs.

It all beggars belief. And unsurprisingly, we think this brazen string-pulling is unlawful.

Lawyers acting for Good Law Project have today written to the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, stating that this “second competition raises very serious concerns, in particular as to whether it has been held, and designed, in order to favour Mr Dacre’s candidacy”.

Although the Secretary of State is responsible for the appointment of Ofcom’s Chair, Ofcom should be independent of both the Government and the services it regulates. The appointment process must follow the rules of the Governance Code for Public Appointments: whoever is hired should be selected on merit, through an open and fair process.

The reason why Ofcom must remain independent of Government is the same reason the media must remain independent of Government: neither can do their job if they are in the Government's pocket.

We’re asking the Secretary of State to explain why the competition for Chair is being rerun and why Mr Dacre is being allowed to reapply.

We want proper answers from the Government. If we don’t get them, we expect to take legal action.

Thank you,

Jo Maugham - Good Law Project

Good Law Project only exists thanks to donations from ordinary people across the UK. If you’re in a position to support our work, you can do so here:

Donate
 
You couldn't keep up with this stuff there is so much of it going on. Is that the idea just keep ploughing on regardless very similar to the Brexit process. It seems to be a very successful and lucrative formula.
 
More light being shed on the Tory PPE backhanders and related corruption/theft etc:

“A leaked document has revealed which Conservative MPs and Peers funnelled companies through a ‘VIP lane’ for lucrative PPE contracts, without competition. A staggering £1.6 billion worth of contracts were awarded as a result of referrals from just ten politicians at the heart of the Conservative party. The leaked list of the 47 companies in the VIP lane, first seen by Politico, can be found here.

Michael Gove MP, Matt Hancock MP, Esther McVey MP, and Steve Brine MP are among the Conservative politicians who referred companies to the VIP lane. Those lucky enough to receive this VIP treatment were more than ten times more likely to win a contract than companies that went without.

Government claimed that the VIP lane for PPE contracts “was widely advertised across Government as a way of more quickly triaging offers of support”. But the explosive list of companies in the ‘VIP lane’ shows that no other political party successfully referred companies via this fast-tracked route.

Some of the VIP lane companies have close links with Conservative party politicians. Take PPE Medpro. The company was founded by the former business associate of Conservative Peer Baroness Mone. It won two huge contracts, worth £200 million, just weeks after it was set up.

A lawyer for Baroness Mone previously claimed that she hadn’t “had any role or function in the company, or in the process by which the contracts were awarded”. The leaked information does suggest, however, that she was the source of the referral of PPE Medpro to the VIP lane.

Good Law Project has been battling for months to learn the identities of the lucky beneficiaries of the VIP sweepstake. It’s not hard to see why the Government wanted to keep things under wraps, given these new details, including:

  • Michael Gove referred Meller Designs, the firm of Conservative donor David Meller, to the VIP lane. The company subsequently landed over £160 million in PPE deals.
  • Cabinet Office Minister Lord Agnew referred Worldlink Resources, a company advised by former MP Brooks Newmark that landed a £258 million deal. Lord Agnew was also the source of the referral for one of the largest beneficiaries of Covid procurement – Uniserve. The company was awarded £304 million in PPE contracts thanks to the VIP Lane, alongside its existing £572 million contract to handle PPE logistics. More recently, Uniserve has been paid over £124 million (£1 million/day) to store excess PPE.
  • Lord Feldman referred SG Recruitment, amongst others, to the VIP lane. The Conservative Peer Lord Chadlington sits on the Board of its parent company, Sumner Group Holdings Limited. They landed £50 million in PPE contracts.
  • Dominic Cummings is named as the referrer of Global United Trading. The company landed a £350k PPE contract.
There are doubtless more stories to come, as we pore over the details of the lucky beneficiaries of this red carpet to riches.

Michael Gove claimed there was “no evidence” of cronyism when it came to Covid procurement. That feels like a pretty punchy claim given these shocking revelations which lay bare the huge financial advantages of having a Tory looking out for your interests.

Good Law Project only exists thanks to donations from ordinary people across the UK. If you’re in a position to support our work, you can do so here.
 
More developments in the PPE contract corruption. Grant Shapps-Fox-Green up to his neck in it as one would expect:

“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.

The Government was forced to release the names following a successful and long-running Freedom of Information battle by Good Law Project.

We can reveal this list includes 50 names – rather than the 47 leaked to Politico – and includes three more significant Conservative Party figures.

Current Transport Secretary Grant Shapps is now named as the ‘source of referral’ for VIP firm ‘EyeSpace Eyewear’. The company landed a £1.4m deal to provide Goggles. The contract included a fee of nearly £0.5m for freight.

Neither Shapps or Eyespace Eyewear were included in the previously leaked version of the VIP list.

Conservative Peer Lord Leigh appears twice on the list. Leigh has donated more than £100,000 to the Tory Party and is named as the ‘source of referral’ for Maxima Markets and Skinnydip.

Lord Feldman subsequently referred both suppliers into the VIP lane.

Another new revelation is the inclusion of a firm called The Paper Drinking Straw Co Ltd. The firm landed a £20m contract to provide surgical masks after being referred by Tory donor Stuart Marks. Mr Marks has donated more than £100,000 to the Conservatives according to the latest Electoral Commission data.

Another new name that was missing from the ‘leaked’ list is Mayfair Global, who were awarded a £256,000 contract to provide gowns.

Good Law Project will be releasing further analysis of the list in the coming days.

Government’s list can be read here.

Good Law Project only exists thanks to donations from ordinary people across the UK. If you’re in a position to support our work, you can do so here.”
 
PS I’ve just set up a direct debit. This stuff is worth paying for. It’s pretty much the only hope we have to keep the UK out of the sewer.

Likewise, I set up a direct debit a while ago and whilst it is only £10/month I figure if a few thousand folk do similar it will very soon add up.
 


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