Cries of “crony government contracts” are in the news again. When it comes to cronyism the Welsh government’s political corruption is as constant as it is under-reported. For example, on 10^th April 2020, the Welsh Labour government concluded the award of a contract with Consultant Connect worth £650,000 to provide “additional support to primary care for the many elective care issues that GPs have to deal with which has increased significantly during COVID-19”. The details of this valuable contract were then not published until 18^th June 2020. That’s one tick in the box for any contract corruption conspiracists…

At the time the contract was awarded, the Chairman of Consultant Connect was, and still is, Greg Jackson who is – shockingly – a long-time Labour supporter:

• Until November 2019, Jackson was a Director of LabourList
• Until September 2010, Jackson was “Director of online Media Strategy” for the Labour Party’s online tech partner, Tangent Labs
• While at Tangent Labs, Jackson developed “the entire online infrastructure for the UK Labour Party”

Guido doesn’t see anything wrong with the Welsh Government awarding this contract to Jackson’s Consultant Connect. All governments across the world in spring last year were scrambling to put support mechanisms in place, whether it was securing PPE or, in this case, support GPs. Labour and their Welsh administration could find themselves on shaky ground if they don’t rein in their conspiratorial MP ranks…