Boris Johnson, Prime Minister and MP for Uxbridge and South Ruislip, has been found guilty of misleading Parliament over COVID contracts.
Mr Johnson had claimed that the contracts, which are subject to allegations of corruption and a legal challenge, were all “on the record”.
A High Court order, published on Friday 5 March, has now proven this not to be the case. The Judge confirmed the Government had only “published 608 out of 708 relevant contracts for supplies and services relating to COVID-19 awarded on or before 7 October 2020”.
In addition to showing Johnson mislead parliament, the case revealed that the Government had failed to publish the vast majority (97%) of its COVID contracts within the 30 day legal timeframe.
Responding on the news, Good Law Project commented:
“Unless contract details are published they cannot be properly scrutinised – there’s no way of knowing where taxpayers’ money is going and why. Billions have been spent with those linked to the Conservative Party and vast sums wasted on PPE that isn’t fit for purpose.
“We have a Government, and a Prime Minister, contemptuous of transparency and apparently allergic to accountability. The very least that the public deserves now is the truth”.
You can read the final Court Order here and consequential judgment in full here.
Cover Photo Credit: Andrew Parsons/ i-Images. Licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0
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