This afternoon saw a rare court victory for Jolyon Maugham as his Good Law Project won a case in the High Court against Matt Hancock, with the ruling:

“The Secretary of State acted unlawfully by failing to comply with the Transparency Policy” and that “there is now no dispute that, in a substantial number of cases, the Secretary of State breached his legal obligation to publish Contract Award Notices within 30 days of the award of contracts.”

Guido’s all for government transparency when it comes to how taxpayer’s money’s being spent, so has few bones with Jolyon over this one…

Behind the victory celebrations, however, Guido spotted an interesting ruling in the court’s judgement; admonishing lefty MPs Caroline Lucas, Layla Moran and Debbie Abrahams for adding their names to the case just to garner personal publicity and make the claim look political rather than legal:

“It is particularly important that this guidance is adhered to in cases where the parties sought to be added are politicians. No doubt, the addition of politicians as parties may raise the profile of the litigation. It may make it easier to raise funds. But these are not proper reasons for adding parties. In a case where there is already a claimant with standing, the addition of politicians as claimants may leave the public with the impression that the proceedings are an attempt to advance a political cause, when in fact their sole legitimate function is to determine an arguable allegation of unlawful conduct.”

Remainers? Showboating? There’s a first time for everything…