Author: Helen Rennie-Smith
More about me at my LinkedIn profile. http://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=4722189&trk=tab_pro
The Best Defence is a Good Offence
As if they anticipated the court’s decision, the Mail on Sunday published an attack on the Good Law Project’s founder, Jolyon Maugham QC, last weekend.
The article includes irrelevant references to Mr Maugham’s killing of a fox in his garden and implies that donations which finance the Good Law Project may not be used as intended. The Mail on Sunday also suggests that Mr Maugham has tried to play down his previous career, despite the bio on GLP’s website.
“[The attack] is a transparent and deceitful attempt by Government to target one of its most effective critics,” the Good Law Project comments in a statement.
Yesterday the High Court ruled that our Government acted unlawfully when awarding a contract to the PR firm “Public First”, which is run by friends of Dominic Cummings and Michael Gove. It is the second time in just a few months that the High Court judged that a Cabinet Minister acted unlawfully. Both cases were brought by the Good Law Project.
Three Good Apples
The interview board spoke to four applicants for Ofcom chairman and recommended three of the candidates to the Government. Their response is to appoint a new interview board, rather than appoint one of the approved candidates.
It had been expected that PM Boris Johnson’s preferred candidate, Paul Dacre, would be appointed in May. The interview board, however, found that he was “not appointable”.
Critics within the trade and from the general public have claimed that Ofcom is – and should remain – an independent body providing independent guidance. This independence might be jeopardised with Mr Dacre at the helm. He repeatedly made his stance against the BBC clear during his 26 years as editor of the Daily Mail.
The Government’s move to appoint a new interview board rather than accept the recommendations of the current panel can be seen as a further step towards its cultural cleansing.
Reckless Procurement Revealed in Explosive Court Case
On Tuesday, the same day that the National Audit Office finds that the Government lacked detailed contingency plans for a pandemic, the High Court started hearing a case against Matt Hancock.
It is the Good Law Project and EveryDoctor that have challenged the Health Secretary over the Government’s unlawful procurement of PPE contracts. The previous weekend EveryDoctor projected the question “What’s the plan, Matt?” in giant illuminated script on buildings across London, the Department of Health among others.
There are many explosive revelations expected during this week’s hearing. Jolyon Maugham, director of the Good Law Project, lists a few facts which were revealed during the first two days:
- Government paid tens of millions of pounds to PestFix and Ayanda Capital for face masks which did not meet NHS standards.
- Government prioritised companies because of who they knew and not what they could deliver.
- The banks were so concerned about Government’s lack of due diligence on companies who had been handed huge contracts that they halted payments.
“The British public will want to know why companies that had little or no history of manufacturing or procurement won massive contracts, and why many of these companies were seemingly fast-tracked in so-called VIP lanes to the top of the bidding pile,” says Dr Julia Patterson, CEO of EveryDoctor.
Mistakes as an Artform
Rishi Sunak, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, has kept a clear line throughout the pandemic by arguing for the economy. Has this sidelined the health and lives of British citizens?
A year ago, when the first lock-down was only a few weeks old, he impatiently argued for a speedy return to “normality”. In early June he confidently contradicted the experts by claiming that the easing of the lockdown was absolutely safe.
A few months later he introduced the “Eat Out to Help Out” scheme. This gave those who could afford to go to a restaurant £10 off the bill, although three weeks earlier he had refused to give poorer families free school-meals during the summer break. The school-meal policy was reversed in one of the Government’s frequent U-turns.
Unsurprisingly a study by Warwick University later showed that encouraging people to eat out in August had caused a 17% increase in the Covid-19 infection rate.
In September, when the infection rates were once again soaring, Mr Sunak argued against a second lockdown, because it would hurt the economy. Not just the health experts but many laymen could predict the devastating result of the delay of the lockdown.
This spring the Chancellor maintains his distrust of experts who he claims keep changing the goal posts. He also urges employers to open up offices and stop employees working from home.
It is understandable, indeed commendable, that a Chancellor takes a stance for the country’s economy. However, even a Chancellor should know that the economy does not function well constant political U-turns, incompetence and indecision.
Just as the people depend on the economy, the economy depends on the people.
Photo: Ilyas Tayfun Salci / Shutterstock.com
Conservative Coup Could Be Cultural Cleansing
During the last 18 months close allies to the Government have filled seats on boards of public bodies.
Peter Riddell, the commissioner for public appointments commented on this in a speech last week. He emphasised that the “breadth of the campaign and close engagement of 10 Downing Street” makes a difference from earlier such trends. This is described as cultural cleansing by one chair of a big institution.
After reports of right-wing speakers being banned from university campus events the Government wanted to appoint a champion for free speech. The need for this was disputed by students and universities alike. At the same time people who disagree with the Government are being replaced by yes-men. The list is long, below are some recent examples.
Museum
Dr Aminul Hoque, whose academic work encourages decolonising the curriculum, was not reappointed as a trustee of the Royal Museums Greenwich, which also led to the resignation the chairman Sir Charles Dunstone.
Universities
Lord Wharton, who managed the prime minister’s leadership campaign, has been appointed to head the Office for Students.
Channel 4
Contrary to the recommendations of the board of Channel 4 and Ofcom, who traditionally does the vetting, the Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden blocked the reappointment of Uzma Hasan and Fru Hazlitt to the board.
Ofcom
Former editor of the Daily Mail, Paul Dacre, who is known for his criticism towards the BBC and used his newspaper to ardently campaign for Brexit, has been suggested to chair the media regulator Ofcom.
Riddell, himself, was recently reappointed for six months only. It will be interesting to see if his replacement in September is yet another cosy chum of No 10.
UN-Acceptable Racism Report
The Johnson Government has not only been taken to court by the EU for breaking international law, the UN now accuses No 10 of normalising white supremacy.
After the Black Lifes Matter protests last year Samuel Kasumu, special adviser for civil society and communities, initiated a report on racism in the UK. The report was published on 31 March 2021 and concluded that there was no institutional racism in Britain.
Earlier this week the human rights experts in the UN’s Working Group of Experts on People of African Decent condemned the report, stating that it is “tone-deaf” and “reprehensible”. It notes that the report has twisted data and misapplied statistics. Researchers have shown one example of this, from the labour market, in an article published on the LSE blog.
This echoes the criticism in Britain when the Government’s report was first published. A panel of experts said in an ITV interview that the report was “deeply offensive”.
Questions have also been raised over the impartiality of the commission and how it was finalised. Several scholars claim their research was misrepresented in the report. Commissioners did not get a chance to read the text in its entirety before publication and they were not aware of the conclusions presented by the chairman in his foreword. It is reported that the final result was dictated by No 10 to accommodate the Government’s own agenda, not to give a truthful picture of Britain today. Samuel Kasumu resigned the same day the report was published.
Photo: John Button / Shutterstock.com
From Russia with… love?
Russia still poses an active threat to the UK, according to the Government’s Integrated Review, published in March. Vladimir Putin stated in 2019 that a government’s duty is to create a stable life for its citizens. He went on to say that liberal democracies have failed in providing this stability for people.
This was the reason he declared “Cold War 2.0” to fight liberalism back in 2007 when most representatives of complacent western democracies did not see the need to take him seriously. Researchers of political science agree that Putin perceives a united Europe and a strong USA as a threat to Russia. This is why he was in favour of Brexit in the hope it would help destabilise the EU. He believes that by interfering in domestic politics on other continents Russia gains international power.
In the last decade it has been proved that Russian agents have operated and poisoned people on British soil. The so-called “Russia Report”, published after almost a year’s delay last July, showed that Russia had meddled in political campaigns at least since the Scottish independence referendum in 2014 and up until the General Election of 2019.
The Vote Leave campaign broke electoral law. The source of dubious contributions from rich donors with Russian connections are still being investigated.
The Government claims that British citizens of Russian origin should not be discriminated against. They have the same right as all other Brits to make donations, which is of course true. What is conspicuous is that there are a few, very wealthy individuals with close ties to the Russian president who repeatedly feed money into the Conservative party, while UK officials are accused of turning a blind eye to the threat of foreign interference in British politics.
Our Door Stays Open
Reflections from the European Parliament by Terry Reintke, MEP
It has been more than a year now since we had to say goodbye to our UK colleagues in the European Parliament. We sang “Auld Lang Syne” together and tried to look ahead as the damaging decision for the UK to leave the EU was finalised.
By now, the transition period is over. We are still in the middle of a global pandemic and a deal for the future relations has been presented – after difficult negotiations that were too limited in time to actually tackle all areas. The outcome is being scrutinised by the European Parliament. Many committees have given their green light, although numerous criticism has been voiced.
First and foremost, the European Parliament will fight for a stronger democratic engagement in the governance of the treaty, both of the Parliament itself as the only directly elected institution and thus representation of EU citizens as well as of civil cavity organisations to have a strong voice in the bumpy road ahead.
Brexit is far from being over
The question that arises in the next months and years will become more and more complex and potentially difficult to solve – as the UK will potentially more and more diverge from EU standards. What was established as a solution to this – non-regression and the newly established rebalancing mechanism – will have to be tested in practice. In a lot of ways, this deal is more far reaching than any other deal the EU has ever negotiated and will become a reference point in future trade negotiations. However, this also means, that these new mechanisms and ideas have never been used before. With the transition period, a lot of uncertainty ended only to be replaced by new one.
The fact that the adhesion of both sides to the European Convention of Human Rights was celebrated as a great success, speaks volumes about where we stand in the struggle for rule of law and fundamental rights. There is an authoritarian wave blowing over Europe. Governments – in the EU, but also the one in the UK – trying to restrict fundamental freedoms and basic structures of checks and balances. As European citizens, we have to work together to stand up to this threat. A strong multilateral rules-based system and a European Union that stands up for democracy are good foundations for this. Nevertheless, it will take all of us – in the Parliaments and in the streets – to defend our democracies, the rule of law and fundamental rights.
Terry Reintke in the European Parliament. Photo: The European Parliament
Overall, this deal is obviously much worse than the deal the UK had before. It means bureaucracy, a multitude of additional committees, the loss of rights, freedom and many opportunities coming from EU membership. Most prominently felt perhaps by the thousands of students and young adults who no longer can participate in the Erasmus exchange programme.
Looking into the future, the European Parliament is going to stay open and ready for UK citizens. We have seen the rise of the biggest pro-European citizen’s movement in the UK over the past years. We will do everything we can to keep the ties with our counterparts on the other side of the channel. We are planning networking events, exchanges with citizens, civil society organisations and obviously building strong ties in political fields where our cooperation will remain crucial such as climate policies, foreign and security policy and so many more.
Our door will stay open. We will continue to support all the people in the UK who will struggle in the coming days and years, but who also will fight with all their heart for a strong Europe with the United Kingdom as a part of it.
Terry Reintke is vice-president of the Greens/EFA group in the European Parliament, co-president of the LGBTI Intergroup and founder of the EU-UK Friendship Group. Terry studied political science in Berlin and Edinburgh. She was spokesperson of the Federation of Young European Greens (FYEG) before entering the European Parliament in 2014.
Cover photo: Cornelius Gollhardt
Government Breaks NHS Promise
Time and time again during the election campaign of 2019 the Conservative Party assured us that the NHS is not for sale. In March 2020, when the UK started trade negotiations with the US, Prime Minister Johnson declared that the NHS was not on the table.
Yet less than a year later American owned Operose Health has taken over a large number of GP surgeries in greater London causing concerns in for instance Maida Vale, Croydon and Brent and is now the UK’s largest provider of primary care.
It is also notable that the Government recently appointed Samantha Jones as an expert advisor for NHS transformation. Ms Jones was previously a chief executive of Operose Health.
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