2021: Four Highlights

It’s been quite a year, hasn’t it? Here’s how, together, we’ve held the Government to account in 2021:

We exposed Boris Johnson misleading Parliament
Back in March, a Court Order showed the Prime Minister had misled Parliament when he reassured MPs and the public that all Covid-related contracts were “on the record”… This turned out to be untrue.

Uncovering the truth about Covid-19 contracts
In February, the High Court ruled in our favour, stating that “The Secretary of State acted unlawfully by failing to comply with the Transparency Policy” on publishing Covid-19 contracts. This judgment was a victory for everyone concerned with proper governance, and proof of the power of litigation to hold the Government to account.

We helped reveal the names of the companies who had benefited from the PPE ‘VIP Lane’
It’s not hard to see why the Government wanted to keep things under wraps, given that a staggering £1.6 billion worth of contracts that were awarded as a result of referrals from just ten politicians at the heart of the Conservative party.

In November, we forced Paul Dacre to drop out of the race to be Ofcom Chair
Ex-Daily Mail Editor and arch-critic of the BBC Paul Dacre was set to be re-interviewed for the job of Ofcom Chair, despite failing the first time round. Over 90,000 of you signed our petition to stop this and we wrote to the Government threatening legal action… Days later, Dacre dropped out of the running.

If you’d like to help us do more in 2022 please consider setting up a regular donation here.