The government has acted unlawfully over publishing details of contracts

Vote Leave Data Firm Scores £2.4 Million Government contract to research ‘ONLINE HARMS’

bylinetimes.com/2021/02/12/vote-leave-data-firm-faculty-ai-scores-2-4-million-government-contract-research-online-harms/

More Cronyism? PR firm with Tory links provides test and trace ‘reputation management’

"Yet another contract, backdated, and given without tender to a firm with close links to the Conservative Party."

www.thelondoneconomic.com/news/more-cronyism-pr-firm-with-tory-links-provides-test-and-trace-reputation-management-222915/

Grany

Stop the sell-off of 49 NHS GP practices

weownit.org.uk/act-now/stop-sell-49-gp-practices

Needs a new thread, I think, Grany. I doubt if the tory supporters are reading this one.

Stop the sell-off of 49 NHS GP practices

weownit.org.uk/act-now/stop-sell-49-gp-practices

@ApsanaBegumMP

American health insurance giant
@Centene
have just taken over 49 NHS GP practices, with Cable St & East One in my constituency.

How can an American company now run GP services in one of the most deprived areas, while the Govt spin a new White Paper as an end to privatisation?

Hancock is now saying that he'd act in the same way again. In other words, he's undermining a legal judgment.

Very interesting article Maizie.
Celebrity culture and charisma is more important than the truth in the eyes of much of the media. The narrative is dictated by the media and many (most?) voters believe that version.

I'm reading what might be a pertinent article right now:

Not about unlawfulness or illegality, but about the acceptance of lying. Which I think has created an electorate that cares very little about probity in politics.
Resignations in the past were usually a result of a real and consistent public outcry, led by the media (very few resigned without being pushed into it). We don't have that now.

www.opendemocracy.net/en/opendemocracyuk/why-truth-too-weak-stop-liar-boris-johnson/

I must admit I am beginning to worry about Starmer Grany. But he could come through. I would add he doesn't worry me as much as Boris and the Alt-right who seem to have a hold over him.

Johnson got away with trying to unlawfully prorogue parliament. At the time I thought he was toast. They are invincible. They can get away with anything they like now.

George Monbiot on this corrupt government supported by the billionaire press barons becoming an "elective dictatorship"

www.facebook.com/DoubleDownNews/videos/434103640998095/

Jeremy Corbyn Today I asked Boris Johnson to end the scandal of privatisation and outsourcing in our NHS - and to replace the Health Secretary after he was found to have broken the law by failing to reveal contracts worth billions.

These are questions which people deserve an answer to.

Yes we want Hancock to resign This is what Starmer should ask.

Oldwoman70

So everyone is happy that a union is spending £95m of membership fees on a project originally costed at £7m

What a weird question. I don't feel either happy or unhappy. In all honesty it's none of my business as I am not a member but if you are, and you are unhappy, there will be a process you can follow. It really doesn't relate to the OP.

Oldwoman70

That isn't what I said - the point I was making was that contracts are handed to cronies - no matter what someone's political leanings are

Did it follow the Unions own rules. Your post doesn't seem to say.

This issue with the government is they didn't follow the rules and even now are appearing a little coy about the awarding of the contract. You can't help knowing people but you can help avoiding the rules that have been put in place to avoid a situation where it can seem contracts may have been awarded irregularly.

Nothing to do with political leaning everything to do with tansparancy.

25Avalon

We don’t know absolutely that there was cronyism, but this legal ruling means that all details of the contractual arrangements must be revealed. Once this is done it can be shown if contracts were given out unfairly. Cronyism isn’t necessarily unfair which is why transparency is all the more important for all concerned. There has to be responsibility and accountability where the public purse is concerned even in a pandemic.

Good post 25Avalon.

So everyone is happy that a union is spending £95m of membership fees on a project originally costed at £7m

Oldwoman70

That isn't what I said - the point I was making was that contracts are handed to cronies - no matter what someone's political leanings are

You haven't said, so I assume that you don't know, whether the contract was approved by the union. Secondly, the Flanagan Group is a construction company.

It's not just the govt's cronyism that is under fire, it's the fact that many of the contracts were given to people/companies who had no experience of the products/services required.

We don’t know absolutely that there was cronyism, but this legal ruling means that all details of the contractual arrangements must be revealed. Once this is done it can be shown if contracts were given out unfairly. Cronyism isn’t necessarily unfair which is why transparency is all the more important for all concerned. There has to be responsibility and accountability where the public purse is concerned even in a pandemic.

That isn't what I said - the point I was making was that contracts are handed to cronies - no matter what someone's political leanings are

Is it considered OK then for a government to break the law because other people do? Well that marks the end of civilisation doesn't it!
It used to be said that the British sense of fair play and persistence was learned on the playing fields of Eton, anyone want to guess what they are teaching now????

It seems it's not only the government who award contracts to "cronies"

"A company owned by a friend of Len McCluskey has been paid £95 million by Britain’s most powerful trade union for a construction project that was initially supposed to cost £7 million.

Flanagan Group received the money as primary contractor for a conference centre and hotel in Birmingham for the trade union Unite."

This was, apparently, news in January but didn't notice any coverage on BBC (or GN)

I can't copy and paste the relevant section, but if you go to:

drive.google.com/file/d/19QsmLv8LkAL9EO6D-HSlmOHJ4VpoSPn5/view

and scroll down to p 104, section 28, you will see what the judge decided.

He allowed that Maugham had 'standing' but not the MPs as they could have scrutinised the government's actions through different ways.

The link is to the whole judgement. It's interesting to read though very long...

I can only suppose panic on a grand scale or incompetence on a grand scale both of which would normally lead to resignation - unless you are a Brexit and Boris supporter, apparently.

I found the governments idea that you only had skin in the game i.e., that you had "standing" totally insulting. Surely any tax payer or voter has "standing" when it comes to how a government spends its money?

No nepotism involved MaizieD obviously.

Another of the crony contracts seems to be getting some 'unwelcome' attention:

The former publican and neighbour of Matt Hancock who secured lucrative work producing millions of vials for NHS Covid tests is under investigation by the UK’s medicine agency, the Guardian can reveal.

Alex Bourne, who used to run the Cock Inn near the health secretary’s old constituency home in Thurlow, won about £30m of work producing the test tubes despite having no prior experience in the medical devices industry.

www.theguardian.com/politics/2021/feb/21/matt-hancock-ex-neighbour-alex-bourne-under-investigation-uk-medical-regulator