Tory Covid contracts worth £15bn had corruption ‘red flags’ | LBC

[@pokeedmund1016]

I don't just want claw backs. I want these mps in jail

[@kanedNunable]

youy mean tories... ;)

[@danxzon]

I agree wholeheartedly

[@bumberClart1000]

But no one ever pays. The usual inquiry leading to nothing but a waste of time and energy.

[@davidhenrywall8619]

Get tax payers money back , and if politicians break the law they should be prosecuted. This Westminster bubble bubble has got to burst, its seriously corrupt.

[@easytiger652]

110% agree

[@philipaustin601]

Let’s all remember that £15,000,000,000 is 33% of the 45 billion pounds spent on the Covid recovery contracts. In other words the Tory’s misspent enough money to give 15 thousand schools or hospitals £1,000,000 each

[@russcattell955i]

How about 156 new type 23 frigates or 2 more fleet carriers for the navy.

[@therealrobertbirchall]

​@@russcattell955ior build some council homes

[@stevenwilliamson6236]

@@russcattell955i better to buy stuff you need

[@kenjepson1908]

That's about £288.5 million a week to the NHS... oh, wait a minute they don't need it seeing as they are getting £350 million a week from the Brexit savings, silly me.

[@jamesprivet]

Nicked not misspent

[@GeorgeOhYesPlease]

The track and trace system was also a complete fraudulent farce.

[@MartinParnham]

Awful. Absolutely ridiculous what happened with that.

[@TruthWillOut-hb9vc]

The app alone cost £65 million, making it the most expensive app ever produced

[@ibexdnb2879]

Covid was a farce.

[@ArtyFactual_Intelligence]

My son, in April 2020, offered himself to man a phone line 16 hours a day to receive and transfer info, give advice etc. He was ignored.

[@LobsterBox]

Covid was a farce

[@christinalloyd9566]

Blah, blah, blah. Reports will be produced, questions asked in parliament. Whatever. NOTHING will be done. NO ONE will be held accountable. NO money will be recovered. NO ONE will go to jail. Look at what has happened with the post office scandal. Lawyers are still making money from that and absolutely nothing has happened.

[@daftgowk1]

That's because the English voters never held them accountable, nearly 50 years of Tory rule, and when they voted Labour they did it so they have someone else to blame for the mess we are in, other than foreigners. Shameful stuff

[@daftgowk1]

The Engerlund voters should be held accountable

[@vinylrulesok8470]

Maybe if the media in general gave this the proper attention then something might happen, but they won't

[@KidarWolf]

@@daftgowk1 Under what logic? I didn't vote for the Tories, why is it my fault?

[@sprinkz6187]

No doubt most of those contracts went to the usual "overseas" suspects on the advice of their "overseas" advisors (No doubt the kick-backs were juicy)

[@calgarycowboy2]

When a professional government procurement dept is totally ignored and contracts awarded without bidding you smell a huge rat. Cronism at the highest level by ministers who should not decide or select suppliers.

[@martinobrien7110]

No No No . Just Tory Deregulation .

[@alansdorsetfossils4028]

@@calgarycowboy2 your so right it should have been left in the hands of the NHS who know and have regular contracts with known suitable PPE suppliers. These buyers know exactly what specification is required. Teams should have been expanded each with an experienced purchasing office to guide the new staff. The civil service approve suppliers from the NHS and as you rightly point out Ministers need not be evolved except to be kept up to speed on delivery. It was a massive scam and the VIP lane was according to the high court found to be illegal Ignorance of the law is no defence so why are these people not held accountable.

[@face5624]

Price of a box of masks on Amazon was £5.00. Price for the same box of masks on the pecos nhs purchasing site was£30.00 . This was absolutely a rip off

[@jimwest7107]

Yep.

[@dinaworkman306]

Who owns that

[@face5624]

@@dinaworkman306 it's the ordering site for any type of NHS stores. Items that are used within a NHS department

[@petefl1818]

And you'll probably find that those who say the NHS problems can't be solved by throwing money at them will approve of buying masks at £30.00 a box as part of the privatisation of the NHS.

[@valerierooney1299]

Tories and mate's absolute abuse of their position, they're in service to the public, not there to enrichment to their and mates pocket... Dispicable Tories have blood on their hands, they've killed some of the UK citizens profiteering!

[@DanielJones-c1i]

Like to see Ministers serving time for this. Absolutely disgusting

[@kb4903]

For what? It’s not all pensioners.

[@DerrickJenkins-s6c]

What on earth are you on about?

[@Freedomforeverall]

Baroness Mone and her husband are so guilty and greedy it's disgusting. I certainly would love to see a few locked up too , such as michael Gove.

[@DerrickJenkins-s6c]

@Freedomforeverall Agreed. Hancock too.

[@simoncox9689]

@@kb4903 he not talking about pensioners

[@johnrussell3961]

They said the normal rules needing setting aside to get things done quickly. If they wanted things done quickly, why give contracts to companies who only existed on paper? Real UK companies got more work from the EU.

[@andym.6141]

Had the Tory Government been doing it’s job properly prior to the pandemic then contingency plans would have been in place with bonafide suppliers to allow things to get done quickly. 😡

[@mandywithell]

We had a local company contact our local radio station, a little while into the Covid crisis. At the beginning of Covid, they had contacted the Government stating they could supply medical equipment then and there. They had stock available off the shelf and the contacts to continue supplying but, having contacted the Government, didn't hear a dicky bird from them. Probably didn't know any MPs that could open doors!

[@petefl1818]

Not forgetting the "real" PPE manufactures came forward with offers but were ignored.

[@mandywithell]

@@petefl1818 Exactly what our local company was implying!

[@TheGeneReyva]

Dissolve the tory party and investigate EVERY SINGLE PERSON who was part of the party, not just MPs, from the start of 2020 and after.

[@ArtyFactual_Intelligence]

2010, please

[@random_an0n]

both labour and the tories

[@jamessteel9016]

Follow the money, it will lead you back to the Tory party.

[@martinobrien7110]

FTM . My favourite saying . The Trail of Watergate .

[@Jayh857]

It will lead u back to the world economic forum, they brought a book out called covid19 the great reset before covid happened, it tells you in that book what they was going to do and how they was going to do it, kier starmer is a member of that organisation

[@StuartPacker]

Johnson should be going to jail. Hancock and Mone too

[@yassinusuf8228]

This should be investigated by the Police ASAP.

[@Ghengiskhansmum]

They're employed by the same people and system.

[@EloiseB2025]

Same police who thought there was no evidence of partygate and refused to act until met with a lawsuit? They absolutely should investigate this blatant fraud but they will not.

[@geofo60]

Contracts awarded based on not what the individuals knew, but who they knew. Same old, same old story !

[@martinobrien7110]

Tory Tory Tory .

[@Alex-cw3rz]

Stop saying same old that implys that not just is it fine that it is to be expected. Which is not true even in this case 153 out of 5,000 were corrupt meaning we need to punish the corrupt ones and reward the honest. Not just pretend all are bad.

[@ibexdnb2879]

​@@martinobrien7110 Brother. Do you sincerely believe Kier Stalin and Labour would have been any different? Would you be different?

[@martinobrien7110]

​@@ibexdnb2879 Yes .

[@outlawJosieFox]

We are run by the public school boy brigade. Don't top carried away with just Tories, Sir Keir is one of them 😮

[@nickryder9669]

Don’t forget to add on test and trace costs of around £35 billion

[@lewisgreen1633]

37

[@nickryder9669]

@@lewisgreen1633 Thanks I didn’t want to exaggerate

[@rosemarycuthbert4623]

Cronyism with people who had absolutely no experience in the sector. Absolutely vile

[@deborahkildare9651]

Yet we point at other nation’s corruption ! The hypocrisy!

[@mustrumridcully3853]

Michelle Mone???? What's happening to her and her yacht?

[@PaulaXism]

I looked into that contract.. Oddly the PPE which was supplied was correct, fit for use, in date, and at the contract price. In other words they supplied the goods which were paid for. The only complaint that could be made is over the agreed price, but that isn't on her company, it's on the minister who agreed to pay it.

[@petefl1818]

@@PaulaXism "it's on the minister who agreed to pay it, who was, Rishi Sunak.

[@simost2566]

Interestingly the Lords and Parliament allowed Mone to be an example of quite publicly. However no one else has been brought into public exposure in the same way. What this says is they’ve used here as a focal point while the rest of the money grabbing mob slither off without being noticed. It’s typical of the US style of politics, if one particular person or issue is front and centre you need to look at what’s happened elsewhere as it’s often misdirection.

[@bozjankwestmacott]

Gove must have had a cut of that money

[@darrens2601]

​@@PaulaXism how did U look into that contract then?

[@robertcumming9227]

I'm so sick and tired of constantly giving the tories the benefit of the doubt

[@brianoriordan7281]

Get it back then fine them another 15bn then lock them up for 15bn days so they can reflect on their malfeasance (one of your favourite words in relation to Johnson's government James)

[@martinobrien7110]

Johnson was corrupt by the time he left Eton . House Master 's Report .

[@michaelsmedley7519]

He was as soon as he popped out of his mum

[@liamoconlocha3264]

Time to demand justice

[@Alex-cw3rz]

There needs to be prison sentences from this and the companies need to give back double

[@drcommonsense1]

Such a shame these findings are only for reporting purposes. If only we had accountability and prosecutions

[@Zobbster]

I really hope this becomes headline news for weeks. But I won't hold my breath...

[@fluffycommander]

It's Labour sneaking round murdering pensioners on the front pages instead

[@faelsinnes]

Hello son, welcome to adulthood. ..... POWER CORRUPTS.. the only man to enter and leave parliament with honest intentions was Guy Fawkes.

[@Prophet_Google]

*When will JAIL be forthcomming?*

[@andrewrobinson2565]

This investigation is also A WASTE OF MONEY unless those responsibile, and those with whom the buck stops, have their day(s) in court and their days locked-down. 😢

[@bigdaz7272]

Could we honestly expect anything else when we allow greedy corrupt criminals to become MPs and then don't put them in Jail when they get found out.

[@RichDoes..]

I am outrged but not surprised about this!

[@FnRenner]

From an outsiders perspective it seems like such an insanely large amount of money can be given away freely in what I can only describe as "openly corrupt" should be a priority as far as getting the cash back and locking up those who were in power and corruptly abused their power.

[@JohnPark-xf2gq]

That can only happen if the people now in charge want to make the changes that would make it more difficult to stick their noses in the money trough.

[@shawnkeys4712]

So many should be in prison including mist of the Tory front bench at the time

[@matthewrotherham1]

It's odd how few people are seeing that it's possible to drop EVERYONES fuel bills by £300 or more by telling the energy companies to subsidise.... like most of the EU have done. By doing this, they can make the winter fuel allowance argument, moot.

[@ArtyFactual_Intelligence]

Can't be following EU though. We took back control _-of our demise.

[@bushal1]

15B? Food and heat for 3-4 years.

[@mustrumridcully3853]

Longer than that!

[@bushal1]

It’s about 2B per year for heat subsidy alone at current prices. Add food so double it to 4B yearly = 3.5 years.

[@martinobrien7110]

VIP Lane , says it all . Fill your Boots .

[@saifurrahman8471]

Sue Grays reports were ignored. She was considered as the highest civil servant. Nothing was done with that report. This will be another one that will be brushed under the table. It’s all been covered up. Even before the report came out.

[@Welcome_The_Revolution]

Starmer says (and I believe him) that he wants to restore people's faith in UK politics and democracy more generally. He can't mandate people should be locked up for this as that would be a dictatorship, however if people are not locked up I fear that restoring faith will be impossible. Starmer should do what he can to ensure criminal investigations are given the funding and priority needed to make them a reality and quickly. The overt corruption of the Tories was absolutely rank by the end and Labour cannot be seen to be soft on this.

[@neonwired4978]

how would it be a dictatorship? this is serious fraud, they broke the law, they should be tried in a court of law

[@ibexdnb2879]

Starmer and Rishi and the rest of them dine at the same restaurants and frequent the same clubs mate...

[@DemonstrableRealist]

@@ibexdnb2879Starmer the lesser of those two evils. One’s a Tory mate.

[@askmartinez6409]

Matt Hancock!????? No legal action against him and his friends??

[@AVIATOR-by4kk]

It is happening all over the world. Politicians are the same all over when it comes to opportunities to corruption

[@fylbike]

A write-off of £4bn covid loans???

[@simonbilling2796]

Fine, imprisonment , get the money back..!

[@geovanniali6060]

37 billion on a track and trace system that never worked The least we can do is to keep our parents warm, exactly the way they kept us warm as children 🧸

[@stevenwilliamson6236]

​@JustAUsername-i5l what happened with Carillion? It's pretty blatant to effectively call your business Kaching!

[@therealrobertbirchall]

​@JustAUsername-i5lthe whole point of neo Liberalism

[@ArtyFactual_Intelligence]

Help pay their bills then.

[@davidfoster9890]

.... ..... At least we had a Safe and Effective product...... 😅😂

[@DarkHelixia]

If only $unak could recall spending that money ...

[@JohnPark-xf2gq]

Sunak wants his daughters to grown up in a safe country.obviously not the uk,because he has done so much to destroy it.lnstead it will probably by the USA where no one has lots of guns and it is not at likely to turn into the wild west under humpty trumpty.

[@Alex-cw3rz]

15 billion is £227 per person for everyone in the country

[@paulanderson7796]

I'll have my £227 back then.

[@darrens2601]

Well done you can use a calculator

[@richhowe7193]

One of the many reasons why I couldn’t give the conservatives my vote again. Shameful behaviour before, during and after, nobody is accountable…..

[@jezlawrence720]

I assumed after their behaviour, attitude and performance in the 80s that noone would vote for them again. Last 14 years say people have incredibly short memories and no imagination. Labour had run out of steam and people could only conceive of voting blue instead. We get what we vote for. They said they'd cut everything and destroy the state in favour of big society, and they did exactly And people acted both surprised and kept voting them back in. And then, eventually... They just voted red again! Even after the last time when they were warmongering authoritarians! Never mind the Tories, we need to get rid of first past the post.

[@janswimwild]

Thank you James, keep holding us all accountable, especially the government.

[@Bert-hy5ek]

Covid provided the opportunity for ministers and others to award contracts to friends and relatives. They were happy to use taxpayers money to benefit themselves.

[@Wasssssup-3]

Demand it all back

[@ncooper8438]

Strange, 15bn is not far off the 22bn black hole the chancellor has found, or is that just coincidence?

[@EdwardLindon]

Yes, it's the magical 68.18181818181818 ratio... 🙄

[@RichDoes..]

If the BBC can go after Hugh, can Starmer go after the Tories responsible?

[@joanormrod4893]

There were companies that manufactured PPE that were on the VIP track because they did not know ministers. One company near me contacted the government numerous times but nobody responded to them.

[@ganrimmonim]

I am old enough, coming up to 45, to remember when politicians at least tried to hide their corruption.

[@georgepatas3319]

I remember all the ppl that owned 3d printers back then we organized in social media and shared schematics to produce PPE and DONATE IT to hospitals in close proximity to us to help the fight. I made 100 PPE face shields from scratch and donated it to the chirsties hospital that i owe my life here in Manchester. Soon after the government put a stop to us and said they forbid any more donations and that the central administration will cover the shortages and deliver PPE to the NHS. now i know why.

[@woodngames]

more money wasted on a fact that we already knew . Give this proper news coverage , this is a major scandal.

[@fylbike]

10 times the cost of the pensioner cut. What is Labour going to do? NOTHING

[@paulcreed-r2n]

15 Billion for that box of PPE Matt Hancock got filmed carrying for a photo op.

[@jonboymk1bridgemaryfront889]

Blah blah we will do better nxt time x100 over the last 30yrs + is what I've heard time & time again. When big orginisations f*k up, after investigations show these orginisations were at fault. My prayers go out to the victims of the covid era 🙏❤May their loved ones find peace and have their questions answered over their loved ones deaths ❤

[@shaunwoods8482]

CORRUPTION CORRUPTION CORRUPTION

[@SteveSingerFowkes]

VIP Lane - or how to give public money to your mates in plain sight Shocking

[@sbrown314]

The Met Police will be sending out questionnaires any day now.

[@robertjones8644]

Those of pure blood who were persecuted knew what was going on. Millionaires and billionaires were made not 1 person has been charged ,convicted or imprisoned yet were given awards in honours

[@bertross9727]

"Pure blood" 🤮🤮

[@marknugent5479]

Tip of the iceberg id say

[@frankriley845]

For Tories just peanuts

[@martinmcnulty8155]

Great stuff talking about this.

[@martinturtak4901]

Broken system

[@silentgirltears782]

This needs to stop now!!!! We the public have had enough of being taken for a ride !!

[@pipins3616]

Don’t try to deflect Labours pathetic attempt on Government.

[@simonfuchi6461]

We need to claw as much of this money back as possible.

[@grahamwheeler6967]

Take them to courts! More will come out in the wash

[@yassinusuf8228]

Where did all this money go?

[@JohnPark-xf2gq]

Follow the tory paper trail all the way to their offshore tax havens.

[@neonwired4978]

now let's see some arrests made

[@bodricthered]

Let's count the number of people who go to jail from this shall we, I'm sure it will make it very clear how genuinely this issue is taken by both the authorities and the electorate.

[@RichardDavies-u4h]

I for one was called a conspiracy theorists during all this and now look!!!

[@toms7671]

Nothing will be done. 2-tier system yet again.

[@rosemarycuthbert4623]

Money will be resting in offshore bank accounts

[@readwithcareplease22]

one big part of the £22B 'black hole' right here... corruption & croynism at it's highest...

[@somthingbrutal]

the government needs to claw all that money back, and where the companies that took the money and supplied nothing or substandard PPE there should be serious jail time for the company directors and the MP's that gave them the money

[@trulymental7651]

Profiteering in a time of peril. Criminal. That is a fair bit of a 22 billion pounds hole and I think the money should be paid back and the MPs should be locked up. Blatant corruption!

[@patrickbarrett7536]

This certainly explains where the majority of that £22 Billion hole in the budget came from...

[@DeadeyeColdcuts]

This happened with the Federal Liberal party (Conservative) in Australia when they were last in power. Massive contracts given to unproven companies. It is how conservative parties roll, no oversight. How they get away with it is frightening

[@saturdayplayer2492]

Just take the money back from the dodgy dealing firms and any beneficiaries.

[@fluffycommander]

They won't even need to say sorry. This is meaningless.

[@EileenHall-j9f]

We were told that Covid was a war. These individuals should be treated as war criminals. Go after these treacherous people not pensioners. We do not have generous State pensions. We should be looking at improving the State pension. But the winter fuel allowance was just there as a measure to make us think, they care about Pensioners. Our Pensions, compared to the rest of Europe are poor. Pensions are not a benefit, we pay for them. 😊The weekly/monthly needs increasing, that is the fairest measure.

[@tettoproject]

Well everybody wonder where all that money went

[@marktony9737]

Starmer promised a police investigation if I am not mistaken. Will it happen, of course not.

[@davidthomas450]

14 years ago we were £300 billion in national debt now £2500 billion! Hmmm I wonder where the money went? Pub landlord £40 million mone £200 million ffs if I won the lottery I would be a pauper in their eyes . We are just scratching the surface

[@sammyez6032]

Biggest daylight robbery in living history!

[@TheMishka11]

And you wonder how the scam went on so long

[@thermometredupochard]

Cant wait for James Bond to appear and start reclaiming all the money back from people who sadly have accidents.

[@GerryT.]

Some Tories should be behind bars. They trot out the same excuse, that they had to find PPE quickly, they dont mention that companies awarded contracts had barely been in existance, had no staff, no experience.....but were friends or donors .

[@steevsmith2792]

ALL Tories should be behind bars....for a VERY LONG Time.

[@graemebell8585]

What Tory Profiteering ,,,, never !!!!! It’s their modus operandi!,,

[@lorihenderson673]

And yet family carers are being prosecuted and persecuted for being given badly organised carers allowance (works out at 30p per hour) not enough to buy a yacht

[@joey3088]

They ignored the well established PPE & Ventilation businesses, as they (the corrupt Tories) wouldn't benefit financially from awarding them the contracts. Don't forget over and above these figures, is the money for Moderna vaccines (of which Sunak held shares in). Absolute disgrace.

[@MartinCarty]

I'll be surprised if any money is seized or any of the crooks serve jail time.

[@seanmcgarrigan3942]

And not accountability as allways, with lies on lies for personal gains, beyond dishonesty

[@seanboland3560]

I want every penny back, arrest charge and jail

[@nickdunn6205]

And they'll get away with it!

[@benjiskitts]

Corrupt politicians. No never 😂

[@luke7708]

This is what Labour should be filling the black hole with, not more austerity

[@BrianCope-ff4yq]

What about the 37 billion for the failed track and trace too!!