Public First, a research company run by a colleague of Cummings and a former adviser to Gove have been given a contract worth £840,000 to research into public opinion of the govt's policies.
Govts are legally required to put all contracts out to tender. The Govt's response was they did not need to tender because of the covid-19 crisis. However, it would appear that some of the work was Brexit related and that the first focus group was on 3 March.
Some of the documentation relating to the contract refers to Brexit related work. But the Govt are blaming "book-keeping" and that the Cabinet Office accounts dept used the "wrong cost code".
This is not the first time that contracts without prior tender have been given to friends of Cummings and Gove. Back in 2010 when Gove was education minister one of the partners in Public First, Rachel Wolf ran the New Schools Network to promote free schools. That organisation was given a contract for £500,000. The reason for no tendering was that her organisation was the ony able to provide expert support quickly enough.
I think that this Govt is corrupt, led from the top down. In case any of you have forgotten, the Garden Bridge project, cost £53,000. This includes £161,000 on a website, £417,000 for a gala, design costs over £9 million and £1.7 million to the executives, friends of Johnson.
