Thread by @GoodLawProject

BREAKING: The High Court has ruled Michael Gove broke the law in handing a public contract to associates of his and Dominic Cummings at Public First.

The Court ruled a reasonable observer would think there was a real risk they won the contract because of favouritism.

The High Court found: "the existence of personal connections between (Michael Gove), Mr Cummings and the directors of Public First was a relevant circumstance that might be perceived to compromise their impartiality and independence..." glplive.org/judgment

The Judge continued: "failure to consider any other research agency...would lead a fair minded and informed observer to conclude that there was a real possibility, or a real danger, that the decision maker was biased" (paragraph 168). glplive.org/pf-judgment

Emails between civil servants revealed in the course of our legal action revealed both Michael Gove and No 10 wanted contracts to be awarded to Public First:

Gove tried to argue only Public First could do the work. However, the High Court held that "does not stand up to scrutiny" and "the time constraints...did not exonerate (him) from conducting the procurement so as to demonstrate a fair and impartial process of selection".

This is the second decision in Good Law Project's slate of crowdfunded procurement judicial reviews - and we have succeeded in both.💪

Two Cabinet Ministers - Michael Gove and Matt Hancock - have now been found to have broken the law.

We are grateful to our excellent legal team: Jason Coppel QC + Patrick Halliday of 11KBW, + @ris_law who acted as solicitors.

And to the thousands of you whose financial contributions make this possible.

We are the arrow but you draw the bow.
glplive.org/judgment