Legal proceedings have been launched against the UK government after the Good Law Project raised sufficient funds to challenge alleged breaches of procurement law and apparent bias in the grant of the contract to longtime colleagues of Dominic Cummings.
Questions have been raised since the start of the coronavirus crisis over why PPE contracts have gone not to manufacturers or professional suppliers but instead to pest controllers, confectioners, and opaque family offices.
There are also suspicions over why Public First – a company run by Cummings’ allies Rachel Wolf and Mr James Frayne – has been awarded a string of public contracts uncontested.
The Cabinet Office paid Public First approximately £253,000 for services between March and May 2020 but the total contract value is £840,000.
Jo Maugham QC confirmed that proceedings have been issued in the High Court against Michael Gove this weekend.
Yesterday we issued proceedings in the High Court against @michaelgove. You can read those proceedings, which allege both breaches of procurement law and apparent bias in the grant of a lucrative contract to longtime associates of Mr Cummings, here: https://t.co/81i37VYVdE
— Jo Maugham QC (@JolyonMaugham) July 11, 2020
On the crowdfunding page, the legal team said that to ensure value for money, to protect public funds, to guard against cronyism and bungs, one must put public contracts out to tender.
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