The government gave “VIP treatment” to a firm offering Covid testing facilities which had entered the system “informally” because Matt Hancock was “a good friend” of somebody working with the company, according to internal emails seen by the Guardian. Hancock resigned from the cabinet last month after being caught kissing his aide. “We have a stakeholder log in which we capture VIP stakeholders relevant to pillar five [building testing capacity],” Greaves wrote. “This is yet more evidence that we can’t trust a word that Conservative ministers say,” Rayner said. The health department, Hancock and Greaves were contacted for comment.

Source: The Guardian July 15, 2021 04:52 UTC