Thread by @PickardJE

remember this story from Sunday?

we've established that the co-director of Admiral also works for Sir Humphry Wakefield, father-in-law of Dominic Cummings

@FT

ft.com/content/6159d5…

these are the directors of Admiral Public Relations

and these are some of the directors of the Chillingham Castle Wild Cattle Association

there was no competitive tender for the contract:

one ally of Kate Bingham said Admiral was recommended by a “senior medic”. She then passed the suggestion to civil servants who negotiated terms: “They were recruited to do strategic communications, not personal or other PR."

questions raised by Labour's @RachelReevesMP

“These revelations raise yet more serious questions about how taxpayer money is being spent during the pandemic and how the government is being run,” she said. “The public deserve urgent answers."

fwiw Angus Collingwood Cameron is apparently not related to David Cameron, despite the resemblance

I'm told the links are a co-incidence, which is of course possible - but awkward given lack of open procurement

among the many things I've learned overnight: Sir Humphry's Chillingham Castle is haunted

ft.com/content/a3031c…

Number 10 source: “That Dom story is risible.”

in my defence this is not the most risible content I produce

not saying Admiral aren't great at crisis comms but they still haven't got back to us

only fair to say that @singharj was also on the story and beat us to publication by a few minutes

google.co.uk/amp/s/m.huffin…

Keir Starmer raises the Admiral PR issue at #pmqs saying “there is a real question about how contracts are awarded” by government:

Boris Johnson says the expenditure was “to raise awareness of vaccines, fight the anti-vaxxers and persuade people to take part in trials”