But the Cabinet Office said “there will be no investigation”, arguing that Gove “was not involved in the decision to award this contract”. Public First is run by husband and wife policy specialists James Frayne and Rachel Wolf, both of whom previously worked with Cummings and Gove, the Cabinet Office minister. The company was initially given a Cabinet Office contract last January, having been recommended to civil servants by Cummings and three other senior Johnson staff. The GLP argued, however, that the Cabinet Office acted unlawfully, with apparent bias, in awarding the contract without considering other companies. A Cabinet Office spokesperson said its procedures had been improved following a review by the lawyer Nigel Boardman in December.

Source: The Guardian June 09, 2021 09:47 UTC