'Chumocracy': how Covid revealed the new shape of the Tory establishment
by David Conn, David Pegg, Rob Evans, Juliette Garsid from on (#5ADA0)
Appointments made and contracts awarded during the pandemic have uncovered a web of connections
The great global hope raised this week by news of successful trials for a Covid-19 vaccine interrupted a very British row about the head of the UK's own vaccine efforts, who was appointed in May and reports directly to Boris Johnson.
As Kate Bingham, chair of the vaccine taskforce, came under sustained scrutiny over the 670,000 budget she had allocated for public relations consultants, attention switched from her suitability for the role to her connections to the Conservative government.
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