Thread by @AngelaRayner

Thread: @MichaelGove was too chicken to come to Parliament yesterday to answer questions on the Public First contract (the case where the government acted unlawfully by awarding a contract to his friends. So I’ve written to him with some questions. (1/10)
independent.co.uk/news/uk/politi…

In this case the judge made a ruling of “apparent bias”, which is clearly a breach of the Ministerial Code. @michaelgove must now be investigated for breaching the Ministerial Code in this case. (2/10

https://twitter.com/AngelaRayner/status/1402920634062151682

But there is much more going on here. A separate court case ruled that @michaelgove’s department had also attempted to mislead a court about the Cabinet Office’s FOI ‘Clearing House’, and @michaelgove misled Parliament about this in December 2020. (3/10)

https://twitter.com/angelarayner/status/1403250707499786249

When the media first reported on the Public First contract, which a judge has now ruled was awarded illegally, the government said it was “nonsense” to suggest there was any bias at play. A court has ruled that the government lied. (4/10)
theguardian.com/politics/2020/…

We clearly cannot trust statements that @michaelgove and the government make, and a court has twice ruled that we cannot trust a word they say.

Taken together these cases demonstrate a complete contempt for the truth and habitual dishonesty from @michaelgove. (5/10)

.@michaelgove claims he was not involved in the decision to award the contract to his mates at Public First. However, evidence presented to the court directly contradicts this claim and appears to show that Michael Gove is not telling the truth. (6/10)

If you read the court documents from the @GoodLawProject case against the government you will see that the government’s defence was that close personal relationships between @michaelgove, Dominic Cummings and Public First are a actually good thing, not a bad thing... (7/10)

So the government is arguing that close connections between @michaelgove and Public First were important in understanding why this contract was awarded **at the very same time** as denying any bias or special treatment. That contradiction is neither believable or logical. (8/10)

.@michaelgove, can you confirm how much more taxpayers’ money was wasted in trying to cover up the fact that the government acted illegally in handing £500,000 of taxpayers’ money to your friends at Public First? Throwing good money after bad. (9/10)

goodlawproject.org/update/yesterd…

Finally @michaelgove, your department said that “any suggestion that there has been a breach of the ministerial code is wrong”. But you don’t mark your own homework so I am sure you will be happy to refer yourself to an independent investigation in order to clear your name? Ends.