Dominic Cummings personally called a former colleague of the Brexit vote and asked whether his company would contribute to the government’s response to the new crown virus pandemic. 580,000 GBP Cabinet Office Contract There is no competitive process.
In an email on March 20, 2020, Boris Johnson’s former chief adviser asked the most senior civil servant in charge of the contract to sign the budget immediately if “anyone in CABOFF” [the Cabinet Office] Complain” and tell them Cummings “ordered” from the Prime Minister.
Hanbury Strategy is a company Paul Stephenson Soon after the 2016 Brexit referendum, he and Cummings served as the head of Vote Leave communications. Hanbury also worked for the Conservative Party during the 2019 general election, working with Cummings and Ben Warner. He is a data expert and worked for Vote Leave before becoming the 10th consultant.
The contract signed with Hanbury will conduct a public opinion survey on the government’s response to the new crown pneumonia epidemic, but it will be challenged by the government’s laws. Good Law Project (GLP), the company believes that it shows “obvious bias”, especially considering the company’s close ties with Cummings and the Conservative Party.
Cummings’ testimony and other documents, including internal emails from the Cabinet Office, were made public at a court hearing last Friday. They indicated that civil servants have expressed concerns about some of the work Hanbury has done with public funds, such as a poll of opposition politicians, including Labour Party leader Kil Starmer and London Labour Mayor Sadik Khan’s Conservative Party. Political advantage.
On May 26, 2020, a Cabinet Office official sent an email to a colleague saying: “Hanbury measures attitudes towards politicians. They should not use government funds to measure them, but they are asked to do so. I think This is a difficult battle.”
Cummings said in his witness statement, “My expert opinion” is that Hanbury will provide world-class polling work, and is the only company that can do what needs to be done, start immediately, “We can be confident that we will do our best Go ahead and be honest”.
Cummings said that on Sunday, March 15, 2020, “I called many people for help-epidemiologists, project managers, etc. I also asked Hanbury’s partner Paul Stephenson if he Willing to help with opinion polls, data collection and modeling.”
Stephenson said they could start immediately. Cummings said in the statement: “After I called Paul Stephenson… I asked Hanbury to urgently participate and immediately start frequent large-scale polls.”
On March 20th, Cummings emailed Alex Aiken, the head of government communications in the Cabinet Office, saying: “Urgent: Alex, please sign the budget now so that Paul S can Conduct large-scale polls. Anyone at CABOFF complained that I ordered from PM [OFFICIAL]. “
Due to the emergency of the pandemic, the normal legal requirements of the government contract for full competitive bidding were suspended, and the contract was directly awarded to Hanbury.
In the similar judicial review and challenge of the direct contract- Give priority to the public, A research company with long-term ties to Cummings—— Mrs. O’Farrell ruled in favor of GLP In June, he said that even in a pandemic, the government should practice to consider other potential companies.
Aiken stated in his witness statement that Cummings’ email was not “an instruction to me or my team’s appointment of Hanbury… This is purely an idea we were asked to consider, and I had previously rejected it. Such requests”. Aiken said that he decided to hire Hanbury after providing a good suggestion for the opinion poll. His work was of high quality and he “left a legacy” for the Cabinet Office poll.
He said that he would prefer not to be asked about Starmer and Khan, but explained that this is not for political gain; they are testing the idea of holding a joint press conference with government ministers and “weighing” the credibility of government spokespersons Spend. Aiken said that this was “good intentions but poor consideration.” Cummings also said that the polls are to see whether politicians “can help public health spread without any political purpose.”
A Hanbury spokesperson said the company agreed to complete the work “in a very short period of time,” despite the reputational risks involved.
They said: “Our work has resulted in a very successful public health campaign, which undoubtedly prevented many deaths. Therefore, if we had to make another choice, we would still agree to come forward and help in this crisis. .”
The Cabinet Office has Appeal against judgment In the Public First case, it was also defending ProLogis’s challenge to the Hanbury contract, arguing that the contract was legally awarded.
A Cabinet Office spokesperson said: “In response to an unprecedented global pandemic, the government has taken urgent action to conduct important research on public attitudes and behavior. This research has formed important public health information to help us protect the NHS and save lives.”
