BREAKING: Government fined over PM’s Downing St. flat refurb, as Boris Johnson accused of lying to probe into the works.
The Conservative Party have been fined £17,800 by the Electoral Commission after ‘failing to accurately report a donation and keep a proper accounting record’
The Commission found that the government had failed to fully report a donation of £67,801.72 from Huntswood Associates Ltd, in October last year.
Huntswood is owned by Conservative peer, donor and former Conservative Vice Chair #LordBrownlow.
The investigation found that on October 19th, #Huntswood transferred £67,801 to the Conservatives, £15,000 of which was to cover an event, and reported in the Q4 2020 submissions, but the remaining £52,801, initially covered by the Cabinet Office, was not.
The Commission noted that “we know voters have concerns about the transparency of funding of political parties. Reporting requirements are in place so that the public can see where money is coming from, inaccurate reporting risks undermining trust in the system.”
Fresh facts emerged from the investigation indicating the PM Boris Johnson was not only aware of the transaction, but had actually messaged Lord Brownlow as early as Dec 29, 2020 asking him to authorise “further, at that stage unspecified, refurbishment works on the residence’
Originally however, a probe into the matter conducted by fellow peer Lord Geidt, had concluded that “at no point in the eight months until late February 2021, as media reports were emerging, was the Prime Minister made aware”
The refurb itself was played down by ministers at the time, who'd indicated that “people are just more interested in getting on with their daily lives”- though these fresh revelations have once again raised issues of trust and accountability in Westminster news.sky.com/story/boris-jo…
Brownlow, ranked 521st richest person in the UK, had been recommended for a peerage under Theresa May, and has, both personally and via Huntswood, donated over £3.5 million to the Tories since 2018.
He also, via another co-founded company (Havisham Assets Limited), is one of the biggest investors in Cefinn, the fashion label founded by David Cameron’s wife Samantha theguardian.com/politics/2021/…
Previously, @allthecitizens reported that Brownlow, in his role as founder and director of #Huntswood, had also benefited from lucrative Government contracts, although there’s no assertion these were won improperly:
No.10 has since denied the allegations that Johnson lied to the standards advisor about the works. When asked specifically, a spokesperson responded “No”, adding that the PM hadn’t misled the public…
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🚨NEW: Report from @JointCtteNSS warns the UK is facing "high risk of catastrophic ransomware attack" from foreign actors, like Russia, China & North Korea.
This comes a week after UK govt finally admitted to Russian interference in British politics. 🧵/1
2/The report states that @ukhomeoffice is not fit or prepared to see off these attacks from foreign actors.
It adds that"majority of ransomware attacks against the UK are from Russian-speaking perpetrators but this is not a straightforward state threat." committees.parliament.uk/publications/4…
3/Last week, the Foreign Office finally admitted to Russian interference in British politics.
It said Russian Intelligence Services targeted high-profile individuals in UK inc MPs & journalists through cyber operations. gov.uk/government/new…
"Ukraine targeted Alexander Lebedev as part of a wave of sanctions against individuals supportive of Russia’s war, placing greater scrutiny on the oligarch’s links to the UK government". @pcaruanagalizia@tortoise#RussiaReport
Boris Johnson gave Lebedev’s son Evgeny, a close friend, a life peerage despite security warnings from MI5. "The Cabinet Office has told parliament that “Lord Lebedev is a man of good standing.” Lord Lebedev has said that he has “no links to the Kremlin".
🔴 The Cabinet Office could take unprecedented action to prevent Boris Johnson’s unredacted diaries and WhatsApp messages from being handed over to the official Covid inquiry
We are so convinced of the need for transparency and accountability in the handling of official business that in March 2022 we went to court to challenge the government's use of disappearing #WhatsApp & text messages.
In July 2022, we requested a copy of the WhatsApp messages sent by No 10 staff shared with Sue Gray for her report on the Partygate when Boris Johnson was PM.
Here is the Cabinet Office's reply
🚨🚨🚨 NHS data breach: NHS trusts are sharing intimate details about patients’ medical conditions, appointments and treatments with Facebook without consent and despite promising never to do so. theguardian.com/society/2023/m…
An astounding investigation by @shanti_das@ObserverUK has revealed how a covert tracking tool in the websites of 20 NHS trusts has for years collected browsing information and shared it with Meta, in a major breach of NHS patients'privacy.
What data have been compromised?
granular details of
✔️ pages viewed
✔️buttons clicked
✔️keywords
Revealed
✔️user's IP address, a piece of info that can identify an individual or household
✔️ details of Facebook accounts
Dataminr have been awarded work with the Ministry of Defence, Cabinet Office, and Foreign Office between 2017-2022, but details of their work with all departments is considered exempt under FOI, as is whether they’re working with police in the UK.