The Guardian is following up on The Times stories about Kate Bingham, the chair of the government’s vaccine taskforce, who was hired for her expertise in biotech investments, having had investments in biotech. Their angle on the story is that a government-backed fund invested in private equity firm SV Health, creating a conflict of interest:

“Bingham “stepped away” from her role at private equity firm SV Health Investors in May to take an unpaid post as chair of the vaccine taskforce, which aims to ensure the UK population has access to vaccines as soon as possible.

Two months later, SV Health Investors announced it had secured a $65m investment into its SV7 Impact Medicine Fund from British Patient Capital (BPC), which is entirely funded by the UK government.”

The article goes on to cite public records as well as NGOs condemning this supposed conflict of interest. Guido took a look at those same public records and found that the journalist’s employers, Guardian Media Group plc, benefited from the $65 million investment because they were among the original investors in the very same SV7 Impact Medicine Fund.

How could these investigative journalists, looking at the same public records that they cite, fail to mention that their employers had also invested in the same fund? Covering up their own conflict of interest?