Thread by @RachelReevesMP

What exactly happened with Public First yesterday, and revelations that both Dominic Cummings and Michael Gove were linked to a lucrative Covid contract awarded to them?

Discovering the truth of that has been months in the making. THREAD 🧵

In March, Public First won a contract for £840,000 - they ended up being paid around £500,000 - without tender or a written contract.

Both Gove & Cummings said they had nothing to do with the award, despite links with heads of Public First, including work on 2019 Tory Manifesto.

Then in May (around a month after Cummings made his infamous Barnard Castle trip), the contract was retrospectively awarded.

This is one of the troubling practices the National Audit Office highlighted in their report into pandemic procurement at the hands of this government.

Public First continued to win other work.

Throughout this period, Labour regularly raised growing concerns and demanded transparency, alarmed at the cronyism surrounding the firm and other contracts. mirror.co.uk/news/politics/…

The Guardian asked the Cabinet Office directly: did the links between Public First, Dominic Cummings and Michael Gove influence them being awarded a contract?

The Cabinet Office wrote back dismissing the claims were "nonsense".
theguardian.com/politics/2020/…

Given the government's growing catalogue of cronyism, I'm sure many didn't quite believe this.

Then, @GoodLawProject decided to take the government to court with a judicial review.

It shouldn't really have to take such drastic action to get answers.
goodlawproject.org/case/money-for…

The fact that this was needed - that FOIs, PQs, simple questions to a government that claims it wants to be honest with the public - is still staggering.

But it’s why a Labour government would restore FOI, overhaul contracting and strengthen transparency.
labour.org.uk/press/rachel-r…

Yesterday, during that @GoodLawProject judicial review, we saw a string of explosive emails which revealed that both Cummings and Gove were linked to the appointment of Public First.

This one in particular is jaw dropping.

https://twitter.com/GoodLawProject/status/1361317019665240070

I wrote immediately to Michael Gove yesterday, demanding answers, and asking how the government will make sure this doesn't happen again.

And I pressed him to urgently publish details of the government's "VIP" fast lane, to get back some public trust on secretive contracts.

All of this is also why @AngelaRayner and I have written letters asking for details on meetings with the top 10 companies with Tory links winning Covid contracts.

Given the huge amounts of waste to taxpayers from this government's crony contracts, the public deserves to know.