Fresh off another loss at the start of this week, it’s more bad news for Jolyon. The latest Good Law Project’s finances mirror their results in the courts, with regular and one-off donations falling from £4.2 million to £3.9 million in 2023. Crowdfunding also dropped by two-thirds from £1,862,978 to £601,025. Realising that contributions were essentially funding the government’s legal costs may have put donors off…
Jolyon would no doubt claim that the GLP’s net-surplus of £318,813 is a victory, despite this being a notable drop from £2,653,349 in 2022. However, the non-profit increased their expenditure this year, boosting their headcount to 27, up from just 16 in 2022. More hands doesn’t equal more wins…
Hat-tip: Steve Wilson
Good morning. Jolyon has lost again. Over the weekend the High Court threw out claims that the government’s Storm Overflows Discharge Reduction Plan is unlawful, after a challenge was brought forward by the Marine Conservation Society, WildFish, and of course, the Good Law Project. The judge dismissed the claims on the grounds that “it is not for the court to assess the merits of the policies in the plan” – in other words, ‘stop using the courts for political means’. As usual…
Government sources point out Defra’s plan actually goes further than the existing law in terms of reducing sewage dumping… so making a legal claim would have been difficult. While Jolyon has described his latest failure as “hard to stomach“, the GLP say they’re “unlikely to appeal the decision“. Wouldn’t want to drop another stinker…
As sure as night becomes day, Jolyon has lost again. This time, his loss comes on behalf of and in conjunction with transgender charity Mermaids, which was looking to appeal the charity status of gay rights group the LGB Alliance. The LGB Alliance are “delighted” by the “historic win”:
“We are delighted that the tribunal found in our favour and that Mermaids and the LGBT Consortium have failed in their bid to remove our charitable status.” Lesbians 1, Jolyon 0.
Jolyon is once again doing what he does best: making the most of a losing situation. Despite agreeing to settle four cases – on the condition that the Good Law Project contributes £60,000 to the government’s legal fund – he somehow managed to claim he was “pleased” with the results. Later in the statement, a bitter Jolyon hit out at Rishi Sunak for making “threats against judges”, blamed government lawyers “under pressure from ministers” for “running up oversized cost bills” for the reality that “we could not expect to win these cases”. He somehow still tried to claim “we continue to enjoy considerable success”. Only Jolyon could claim spending £60,000 to lose four cases as a win…
For any co-conspirators still buying into Jolyon’s spin, it’s worth reading the settlement statement agreed to by the Good Law Project:
“Recent judgments in procurement-related challenges brought by the Claimant [i.e. Good Law Project] have found that the Claimant did not have legal standing [i.e. a sufficient interest to bring a case] to bring the claims. The parties agree that there are accordingly serious doubts over whether the Claimant would be found to have standing to bring this claim listed above, and that it is as such not a good use of the parties’ resources for the claim to be pursued.”
Another £60,000 from his donors’ coffers…
Clearly with an image to maintain, Jolyon Maugham has attacked yet another Fox. Fortunately, concerned observers from the RSPCA can stand down, this time Jolyon’s Foxy target is not of the vulpine variety… instead it’s Conservative MP Liam Fox. You can put away the baseball bat…
The latest in Jolyon’s ongoing series of “dark money investigations” investigating… nothing… involves naming Liam Fox in a “lobbying scandal”, after consulting firm Bradshaw Advisory was found to have breached lobbying rules by watchdog, The Office of the Registrar of Consultant Lobbyists (ORCL). This is despite the fact Liam Fox himself was absolved of any wrongdoing by The OCRL – a minor detail buried deep into the article’s 8th paragraph. Sly as a fox…
Jolyon and the Good Law Project have spent the last few days shouting to the rooftops about their big “exclusive”, which reveals “secret” messages between then-Health Secretary Matt Hancock and two Conservative donors as they discuss Covid procurement at the height of the pandemic. Messages which even the Guardian admit show “no suggestion that Mohammed or Amersi [the donors] acted unlawfully”…
Along with the obligatory self-congratulation throughout the GLP’s story, the article includes a quote from Hancock’s spokesperson:
“Matt’s pleased these messages have been released by the department. Government Covid contracts were decided, priced and signed off by the civil service, who are independent of ministers. What happened was a huge amount of hard work to save lives. To suggest any wrongdoing is ridiculous”.
“Matt’s pleased these messages have been released by the department because they debunk the absurd conspiracy theories peddled by the GLP and show him acting entirely properly. As the GLP knows, Government Covid contracts were decided, priced and signed off by the civil service, who are independent of ministers. What happened was a huge amount of hard work to save lives. To suggest any wrongdoing is ridiculous.”
While they’re in the business of publishing messages, what happened to those WhatsApps they received in February between Hancock and his “publican friend Alex Bourne“? Are they going to be published too, or do they not fit the narrative?
