Cummings And Gove Lined Pals' Pockets In Contract Scandal

Judge rules that Cabinet Minister broke the law

- Torcuil Crichton

Tory Cabinet Minister Michael Gove broke the law by acting with “apparent bias” in the handing of a £560,000 public contract to associates of his and Dominic Cummings, the High Court has ruled.

Transparency campaigners took legal action against Gove’s Cabinet Office department over the decision to pay more than £500,000 of taxpayers’ money to market research firm Public First at the start of the coronavirus crisis in March 2020.

Lawyers representing the Good Law Project said Cummings – then Boris Johnson’s chief adviser – wanted focus group work to be given to a company whose bosses were his friends.