Yet another example of the government handing out contracts to friends.

When discussing the Cummings debacle with a friend, she said she wasn't at all surprised and couldn't understand why anyone was because, in her words 'That's just what the Tories do.' And she's right. Handing out contracts to their cronies is just another example of their innate contempt of due process and the notion that they don't have to abide by the rules.

So what? How much evidence of corruption do the Tory voters need before they say "enough is enough"?

Who'd have thought it?

www.gov.uk/government/news/update-on-randox-test-kits

NHS Test and Trace has been notified that some test kits produced by Randox laboratories may not meet our required safety standards for coronavirus testing. NHS Test and Trace are requesting that all settings pause the use of Randox test kits with immediate effect and until further notice.

The company has been awarded a £133 million contract by The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) without having to compete for a tender. When asked if Owen Patterson had lobbied on behalf of the company a spokesman for DHSC said they were “unable to comment on the personnel matters of other organisations”.

It was reported that former cabinet minister Owen Paterson, who was a consultant to Randox Laboratories, had helped to lobby the government to seek contracts for them.

Grayling is just laughable, he keeps 'falling upwards" despite failure after failure. I worked for a very large petrochemical contractor some years ago, and the bid evaluations were a very precise, organised, confidential and professional process. The companies had to have relevant, checkable experience, be in sound financial health, able to cope with proposed contract etc., References were taken up with previous clients and then the decision was made. We are about to embark upon a major ( for us) garden expenditure involving landscaping, excavations etc., and we are taking more care with it than this useless bloody administration are taking with MY money, throwing contracts about willy nilly to friends and colleagues and anyone with the brass neck to put themselves forward for the money. There is a fair bit of silence from the usual suspects who support this administration whatever they do..........maybe the tainted penny has dropped?

Belatedly I know where I went wrong in my career. Whenever I applied for a new job, I used to go through the job spec and make sure I had relevant experience and expertise. I should have just applied for any old thing. It seems being able to do the job doesn't matter any more.

I was reading about the background of some of the other companies which were awarded contracts. It's mind-boggling. One is a recruitment consultancy with no experience at all in procuring PPE. Another had just a few pounds in the bank and was about to go bankrupt. Others hadn't traded for years, but came back to life to apply for these contracts.

It reminds me of Chris Grayling giving a shipping contract to a company with no ships.

No surprises. This is their raison d’être - the old boy network, fellow members of the Bullingdon Club, contracts to cronies, backhanders for planning applications, the list is endless.

www.businessinsider.com/uk-government-sued-pest-control-company-ppe-contract-2020-6?r=US&IR=T

uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/coronavirus-family-pest-control-firm-was-handed-ppe-contract-125938201.html

Oop, sorry Maizie, I am sure I can find it elsewhere as it does seem to be quite widely reported, even if not widely believed. Leave it with me. x

Paywalled, GillT57

www.ft.com/content/c0d439c8-18ac-499b-8115-da2bc0f18567 here it is reported in FT for those who like to believe everything tories do is marvelllous check the sources.

Here are some more dodgy dealings to add to the list:

www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/jul/12/revealed-dominic-cummings-firm-paid-vote-leaves-ai-firm-260000

I would imagine Rich is related to Dick and is a pseudonym.

Did you do an internet search of the companies mentioned?

I searched a couple of them and Mt Head appears to be correct.

I can't give the source I just copied pasted from FB as I know the government did source contracts from just these sorts of companies. You could google to find out more.

Drum1234

Grany, where did you get the information in your post of yesterday at 20:51? The one with the list of companies making shed loads of money for doing nothing? I want to share it, but it will be accepted by more people if I can reference the source properly.

Drum you do well to question this list.
An internet search brings up nothing political for Rich Head, whoever he is! The same for Gordon Young, who funnily enough founded an online page called The Drum , media and marketing and a a bit of politics thrown in, who is an SNP supporter.That’s all I could find.
Grany perhaps you can say more? Is it from somebody in politics up there in the North East, around Durham perhaps.

Grany- that is truly shocking. and despicable. How can anyone still stand by them?

Grany, where did you get the information in your post of yesterday at 20:51? The one with the list of companies making shed loads of money for doing nothing? I want to share it, but it will be accepted by more people if I can reference the source properly.

Did Dyson get paid to make the ventilators that he didn’t make ?

It's horrific. What can we do about it?

When Boris Johnson told us to move on from the Dominic Cummings affair and the matter was closed it told me that this man was corrupt and not a genuine leader
He didn't care one jot what the voters said
He acts more like a blundering dictator than a prime minister
I'm ashamed to be British right now with these clowns in government

The comments on that blog are very interesting too.

Here's one.

Ross says:
July 9 2020 at 2:32 pm
This is a scandal that should bring this government down. We have contracts handed out, to companies that have no relevant experience, no manufacturing capability, no supply chain contacts; it’s not even clear if anything was delivered. I’m afraid this looks like exactly what it is, rats looting a sinking ship. This money is being funneled to offshore companies, so that it can be distributed to friends and supporters of the party. It’s banana republic stuff, and evidence that at least some of this loot goes into the pockets of MSM opinion makers can be gleamed from their near complete silence on the issue.

If a Corbyn government has given a contract for 20 quid to similar companies, it would be headline news everyday for at least a fortnight.

Then there is this post from Richard Murphy's blog:

Start

The government has claimed it has spent £15 billion on PPE as a result of coronavirus. Given that we know there shortages of PPE until very recently I am taking ‘spent’ as meaning that amount has been used.

Now, there are 500,000 front line staff in the NHS who need PPE.

That’s £30,000 each.

If care staff are added maybe 2 million people are affected, but many of the others will have much simpler PPE need.

Assume it’s spread evenly. That’s £7,500 each.

And the crisis is 120 days old at most. But in work terms call it 100 days at most each.

So that’s 200 million work days.

Or £75 per person for PPE per work day.

People I speak to say this sounds absurd. A gown is 50p. Gloves and masks are normal and used all the time. They cost pennies each. OK, lots are used, but not that many. And sure full suits are more, but most aren’t wearing them. And visor masks? How much are they?

Something about this does not stack, especially when we know most could not get PPE for love nor money during this period.

Who is not telling the truth?

And who is making a fortune?

Or is there fraud somewhere?

End

www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2020/07/09/15-billion-for-ppe-really-something-feels-very-wrong-here/

We could start a thread about Government contracts that have been awarded properly but there wouldn’t be anything to post would there?

Sorry Maizie. I don't know how I overlooked it.

I posted links to Jo Maugham's Good Law Project pages at 18.00, Eloethan.

Lots of information there.

I'm staggered by the list Grany posted. Did none of them supply any PPE?