Stefan Simanowitz Profile picture
Nov 19, 2020 18 tweets 7 min read Read on X
In March, I asked why the director of a UK company making PPE were exporting all over the world but hadn’t had orders from the UK

NHS frontline staff were dying

Were million pound contracts being held back to give to govt-linked companies that had no PPE procurement background?
“There were no gowns, visors, swabs or body bags in the govt’s pandemic stockpile when #Covid19 hit UK.”

“The govt ignored warnings from advisers about shortages.”

“NHS staff are being put at risk because of the shortage of PPE.”

Report by @BBCPanorama.
In April, @Channel4News has seen the inventory of the UK govt’s pandemic PPE stockpile. Almost 80% of respirators were out of date when #coronavirus hit.

The UK had had a three month head start to prepare for #COVID19

Covid wasn’t an “invisible mugger”
In early March, the UK had developed 10-minute #COVID19 tests that they were manufacturing...and then exporting around the world!

It would be many months before even frontline NHS staff could be guaranteed swift testing! #PPEScandal #ContractScandal
The #ContractScandal is part of a far bigger & scarier scandal

Contracts for running the COVID data store were given to the shadowy surveillance firm, #Palantir, who are doing the same in scores of countries

Palantir are connected to #CambridgeAnalytica.
Fast track for PPE firms with political ties

144 referrals originated in the private offices of government ministers

A further 64 suppliers were referred directly by MPs or members of the House of Lords

The CEO of Ayanda is asked about this here by BBC.
How did an ex-neighbour of @MattHancock win a big #COVID19 contract?

After initially denying it, Alex Bourne finally admitted he’d exchanged text & email messages with Hancock over several months & participated in a meeting attended by Hancock & Johnson.
theguardian.com/world/2020/nov…
“If we already know this much about the only 3 contracts we’ve looked at in detail, what else is there to uncover? There are hundreds of further contracts - some of which we are examining - & many of these will be as bad or worse.” @JolyonMaugham @GoodLawProject #ContractScandal
“If we already know this much about the only 3 contracts we’ve looked at in detail, what else is there to uncover? There are hundreds of further contracts - some of which we are examining - & many of these will be as bad or worse.” @JolyonMaugham @GoodLawProject #ContractScandal
Wow!

On Friday, @MattHancock’s ex-neighbour told the Guardian that he didn’t have safety certification for vials he’d been supplying since June as part of the £30m govt contract he ‘won’.

Later the same day, it appears they were granted certification. theguardian.com/politics/2020/…
Last week, @MattHancock’s neighbour admitted exchanging personal WhatsApp messages with him offering his services to produce #Covid equipment

Today, Hancock says he “had absolutely nothing to do with that contract”. #ContractScandal #COVID19 #coronavirus
You’ve head of ‘Oligarchs’

Now meet the ‘Covidarchs'

Unlikely business people who, with the help of the govt, have filled their bank accounts with millions in tax-payers money on the PPE gravy train.

Govt-facilitated pandemic profiteering on a big scale
dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9…
About £9 billion in PPE contacts went to companies run by friends or associates of Tory MP’s

In some cases they delivered unusable goods

The govt PPE tsar has financial interests/personal ties to at least 7 companies awarded hundreds of millions of £ in contracts @paraicobrien
“Wow. A PPE supplier speaking to the Public Accounts Committee says they warned the government in DECEMBER 2019 that there would be a shortage of equipment.

They were ignored.”
@WritesBright in @BylineTimes #HerdImmunityScandal #HerdImmunity #COVID19
bylinetimes.com/2021/05/24/gov…
“Ministers used their private emails to hand out taxpayers' money to their mates

The govt admitted it

Now the govt won't search Ministers' private emails to investigate what has gone on & won't secure them for the public inquiry.” @AngelaRayner
#COVID19 bbc.com/news/uk-politi…
"Michael Gove was secretly involved in the process through which a PPE company linked to the Tory peer Michelle Mone secured huge government contracts, according to newly released documents that show private emails being used for govt business." #COVID19
theguardian.com/politics/2022/…
PPE the govt bought for £122m from a company linked to Tory peer Michelle Mone was purchased from China for just £46m

Despite being bought at the start of the #COVID19 pandemic, the 25m gowns were never used by the NHS after govt officials rejected them theguardian.com/politics/2022/…
Gove asked about profiteering on unusable PPE. It smacks of corruption👇

“You forwarded on a contact from Michelle Mone...how do you feel that millions of pounds was wasted because of that introduction?” @KayBurley

“I don't know the details”@michaelgove

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with Stefan Simanowitz

Stefan Simanowitz Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @StefSimanowitz

Jun 25
Wow!

Incredible news to wake up to

Julian Assange is free after a plea deal

He was released on bail from Belmarsh prison & boarded a plane which is currently heading to Australia

His release is a testament to those fought for his freedom #JulianAssange

Julian Assange is scheduled to appear in a federal court in Saipan, a US commonwealth in the Pacific, where he’s expected to plead guilty to one charge under the Espionage Act & be sentenced to 5yrs

Given he’s already served this time, he should walk free
The public have a right to know what their govts do in their name

Julian #Assange’s prosecution represented a grave threat to press freedom, undermining the key role of journalists & publishers in scrutinizing govts misdeeds & creating a chilling effect

Read 6 tweets
May 15
1/. Four years, ago this tweet👇broke the #CareHomeScandal

The govt had INSTRUCTED hospitals to send people “who may have #COVID19” to care homes WITHOUT TESTING

They KNEW about asymptomatic transmission in Jan 2020

Many thousands died

This revelation led to other questions…
Image
2/. From the start of the pandemic the govt had given #Palantir, a US spyware company with reported links to #CambridgeAnalytica, access to NHS health data

The NHS = the most trusted brand in the UK

Cambridge Analytica = the least trusted

Disturbing…

3/. Palantir worked on the NHS data store with #FacultyAI - a company with ties to Cummings

In 2020, @amnesty warned that Big Tech firms might use the COVID crisis to hoover up genomic data, obliterating the last frontier of privacy: our biological selves

Read 5 tweets
Mar 9
1/. “It is the greatest mass-killing in recorded history; & it goes on daily, hourly, as regularly as the ticking of your watch”

Arthur Koestler’s 1944 essay expressing frustration at the failure of the world to acknowledge Nazi atrocities resonates today
wethescreamers.com
2/ “There are a few of us…yelling at you in newspapers…Now & then we reach your ear…But it only lasts a minute. You shake yourself like puppies who’ve got their fur wet; then the screen again descends & you walk on, protected by the dream-barrier which stifles all sound”
#Gaza Image
3/ Koestler notes maniacs lose contact with reality so “perhaps it’s we, the screamers, who react in a sound & healthy way to the reality which surrounds us, whereas you are the neurotics who totter about in a screened fantasy world because you lack the faculty to face the facts” Image
Read 8 tweets
Feb 23
“They got me!” Liz Truss tells far-right kingpin, Steve Bannon, before going on to explain that, to have effectively tackled “the deep state” that runs Britain & its institutions, she would have “needed a bigger bazooka”! #LizTruss #BritanniaUnchained
"I was just saying it like it is & that’s what people respect me for"(!)

Liz Truss’ compares her premiership to a one night stand & says she was just “fattening the pig” for slaughter & that she should have gaslit the public like Rishi Sunak is doing (!)
"I faced the most almighty backlash...from the usual suspects in the media” Liz Truss

“Truss's decline is simultaneously tragic & horrifying but the claim that the media conspired against her can't go unchallenged. There are front pages praising her to the rafters” @mrjamesob



Image
Image
Image
Image
Read 4 tweets
Jan 4
1/. In 2020 I started a thread warning that Trump might launch an attack on Iran before the end of his term

It wasn’t the first time there had been a real danger of a US-led, Israeli backed attack (records show Bush had come close in 2007/8)

The risk appears now to be very high
Image
2/. It’s clear that the bomb blasts in Kerman on the 4th anniversary of #Soleimani's assassination by the US, could lead to a quick ratcheting up of dangerous tensions

After Oct 7, the US sent two aircraft carrier groups to the region

Iran just deployed a warship to the Red Sea
Image
3/. Three US soldiers were killed & two dozen injured in an unmanned aerial drone attack on US forces stationed in northeastern #Jordan near the Syrian border, President @JoeBiden said

This could mark a dangerous escalation
arab.news/y8h8h
Image
Read 18 tweets
Nov 6, 2023
Despite previous denials, Michelle Mone finally admits her involvement in failed PPE supplier Medpro

There should be a criminal investigation into possible intentional breach of beneficial ownership disclosure rules

The govt VIP Lane needs investigating

Something about the #MichelleMone interview doesn’t pass the smell test

Why are Mone & her husband - currently under criminal investigation in UK & Spain - being given a prime time slot to tell ‘their side of the story’?

5 questions @bbclaurak should ask

@bbclaurak “I don’t honestly think there’s a case to answer. I can’t see what we’ve done wrong” @MichelleMone

Wow! #MichelleMone & #DougBarrowman on @bbclaurak’s programme, this morning

Read 13 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Don't want to be a Premium member but still want to support us?

Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal

Or Donate anonymously using crypto!

Ethereum

0xfe58350B80634f60Fa6Dc149a72b4DFbc17D341E copy

Bitcoin

3ATGMxNzCUFzxpMCHL5sWSt4DVtS8UqXpi copy

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us!

:(