On Monday, with @BylineTimes, we reported on 15 Tory donors of 15 companies linked to almost £1bn in awards.

But there's also 15 advisors, ex- or current-Tory politicians, Lords and former employees with links to companies that won a further £2bn. THREAD:
bylinetimes.com/2021/03/31/map…
We have found 31 contracts worth some £2,064,966,708 that have been awarded to 14 firms with non-financial ties to the Conservative Party.

87% of these new agreements were published after the 30 day legal limit, and 53% were awarded using emergency procurement procedures.
Our new findings bring the combined total of Tory-linked firms, either through donations or associations to the party, to over £3bn.

11.35% of the £26.5bn in published contracts so far.
£3,008,655,083 awarded to 29 companies with ties to the ruling party through 30 government-connected individuals.

The Great Pandemic Gold Rush.
@allthecitizens / @BylineTimes

• • •

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

Keep Current with The Citizens

The Citizens 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 @allthecitizens

29 Mar
The Billion Pound Pandemic Gold-Rush:

A year after the anniversary of the 1st UK lockdown, @allthecitizens @BylineTimes have uncovered almost £1bn in COVID-19 contracts awarded to 15 companies, all linked to Conservative party donors. THREAD:
bylinetimes.com/2021/03/29/map…
In Feb we reported on ‘The Crony Ratio’ (8 donors who gave £8.2m to the Tories, awarded £881m in deals)

Our investigation today adds 7 more to the mix

57 contracts worth £943,688,375 going to companies linked to directors who’ve given the Tories £12m+
1/3rd of the contracts were awarded under emergency procurement rules.

77% weren't published within the 30 day legal time frame.

Of the £26.5bn total spent in response to Covid19, these 15 donors and their associated companies account for 3.6% of all contracts published to-date
Read 4 tweets
29 Mar
🚨OUR NEW LEGAL CHALLENGE to the British government 🚨

We teamed up with @cori_crider @Foxglovelegal to stop ministers from using self-destructing messages to conduct government business.

bit.ly/39mYId5
Director of the campaigning law group Foxglove @Cori Crider: “It’s not appropriate to conduct government business on disappearing-message platforms".
It's privacy vs public transparency
Read 6 tweets
22 Mar
BREAKING: Firm awarded £16.2m across multiple Covid-19 contracts has extensive links to the Conservatives.

Softcat Plc not only boasts a Tory-donating director, but life-peer and mega-donor Lord Nash holds shares in them.

THREAD by @allthecitizens / @BylineTimes
Softcat Plc are an IT Infrastructure / Services Company awarded £16.2m since Feb 2020 over 11 different Covid-related agreements. These range from work in the health service to supporting the Student Loans Company & DWP. They’ve won 800+ awards since 2014.
softcat.com/public-sector
One of its ex-directors, John Nash, a Conservative life-peer appointed as a non-executive director of the Cabinet Office last year, and former minister for education under Cameron and May, sat on the board of the company between 2002-2013.
gov.uk/government/new…
Read 13 tweets
19 Mar
Must-do weekend reading for the sensible Citizen. During the pandemic, @allthecitizens have been exposing government’s mishandling of the crisis, uncovering contracts given to Tory donors, overspending on consultancies, and unlawfully late agreements. Our biggest reports to date:
The Crony Ratio: 8 Conservative donors who collectively were awarded £881m in contracts for a variety of services, who between them have donated £8.2 million to the Tory party since 2001. We chart the golden line of cronyism:
CH&L: A £14.4m contract awarded to CH&L, owned by Frances Stanley, friend of Matt Hancock. Her husband donated £5,000 to Hancock in 2019, and CH&L are based in Hancock’s Newmarket constituency, where he and Stanley sat on a Racehorses committee together:
Read 12 tweets
16 Mar
BREAKING: Previously unreported links emerge between two UK companies involved in separate concerning PPE contract wins. It appears the directors have known each other for some time. THREAD:
Fashion designer Karen Brost is the director of Luxe Lifestyle. In April 2020, Luxe was awarded £25 million to supply medical garments to the NHS despite having no assets, turnover, or notable history of having traded in PPE.
bylinetimes.com/2020/07/02/lif…
Brost is married to Tim Whyte, an investment banker who, as reported by the i at the time, has “extensive contacts” in China with state-owned companies.

But these aren’t the only contacts he has.
inews.co.uk/news/health/pe…
Read 10 tweets
8 Mar
Continuing our investigation into the expanding reach of US data analytics giant Palantir into UK public institutions, @allthecitizens have mapped £91m+ awarded to them across government. Below we outline the work they’re doing for the Cabinet Office:
The Cabinet Office are the 3rd highest UK gov awarders of contracts to Palantir, with £22m+ given since 2015. The oldest is a joint contract with Global Digital Services (GDS): £734,834 spent on an “Enterprise Analytical Platform and Intelligence Service”. contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/c731846…
In 2016, the Cabinet Office also listed 4 separate G-Cloud spends on Palantir totalling some £1.4 million.
Read 12 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

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

Donate via Paypal Become our Patreon

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us on Twitter!