Owen Paterson

[johnofgwent]

More at link:-
https://inews.co.uk/news/politics/owen-paterson-randox-133m-covid-testing-contract-despite-lacking-equipment-1288605
November 7, 2021 5:28 pm(Updated 7:29 pm)

Owen Paterson row: Randox won £133m Covid testing contract despite lacking equipment

Mr Paterson resigned last week for breaching lobbying rules

Diagnostics company Randox, which paid Owen Paterson for lobbying work, won a coronavirus testing contract worth £133m just days before government officials confirmed it did not have enough equipment, according to documents.
The company has been thrust into the spotlight since the row erupted concerning Conservative MP Mr Paterson's past lobbying work.
Questions also persist regarding Randox's ability to land Covid-19 contracts worth around half a billion pounds, many awarded without tender, over the past year and a half.

Well that won't be cutting any ice with me. For YEARS the Forensic Science service borrowed our lab which had vastly superior equipment. When my daughter went on the open day at Treforest Poly when she was thinking of following in my footsteps, I saw HPLC GC and MS machines on a bench donated by the service and openly said "oh they finally bought their own then"....... I wonder if they've given you my old HPLC kit.... The column didn't have the scratch I put on it, but the pump unit had a dent in the casing right where one of my peers dropped it after removing the casing for maintenance of the pump ....

[papasmurf]

£500,000 - I think you need to reference that before someone takes legal action against you.

Barry it is a matter of public record. (MPs register of interests and  media/press reporting in the last few days. )

I really find it hard to believe anyone is so far out of touch with current affairs given the wall to wall media/press coverage over the last few days.

[T00ts]

I still can't see where he has gained financially, but I can see that he was found in breach, so it seems Boris tried a sledgehammer to crack a nut by reorganising the system afterwards.
There's an article that claims Mrs Paterson's suicide was connected to discovering that she might be linked to the Randox affair.
As it is in the Daily Mail, I won't link to it.

That was actually mentioned in the House during the debate. I have heard since that he has also resigned from the companies that paid him. I was concerned that it felt like he was tying up loose ends. 

[Barry]

He has trousered £half a million from Randox.

£500,000 - I think you need to reference that before someone takes legal action against you.

[srb7677]

Remember it was jim murphy , and ed milliband who wiped the labour party off the map in scotland in 2015 , but as we know the rot had started long before under brown and blair .

As you say, the rot started under Blair and New Labour. But for a while before 2010 the progressive vote up there abandoning Labour partly switched to the Lib Dems as well as the SNP. When the Lib Dems threw in their lot with the Tories, much of their support in Scotland switched en masse to the SNP, which boost accelerated the demise of Labour in Scotland by allowing the SNP to overtake Labour almost everywhere. It was a gradual thing, but the collapse of the Lib Dem vote and it's shifting to the SNP speeded up what was already happening.

Blairites of course tend to show zero understanding and massive avoidance of any culpability by blaming the Labour collapse entirely on Ed Miliband, which any honest person can see is far too simplistic. New Labour was the original cause of the rot

Edited by Barry - corrrected some typos

[papasmurf]

I still can't see where he has gained financially, 

He has trousered £half a million from Randox.

[Thomas]

Thanks for the information, Thomas.

It merely serves to confirm everything I already believed about New Labour. That such types are in charge again serves to reinforce the correctness of my decision to leave it and cease supporting it.

Remember it was jim murphy , and ed milliband who wiped the labour party off the map in scotland in 2015 , but as we know the rot had started long before under brown and blair .

i have also posted at great legnth the tricks old labour got up to in scotland in the seventies (before my time).

The fact starmer and his stooge sarwar ( his old man was my old mp )is making no headway in scotland despite blaiming labours ills all on corbyn comes as absolutely no surprise to me or any other scot whatsoever.

I think labours ship has sailed long ago in scotland , and been fecking sunk in the process.

[srb7677]

Thanks for the information, Thomas. 

It merely serves to confirm everything I already believed about New Labour. That such types are in charge again serves to reinforce the correctness of my decision to leave it and cease supporting it.

[Barry]

I still can't see where he has gained financially, but I can see that he was found in breach, so it seems Boris tried a sledgehammer to crack a nut by reorganising the system afterwards.
There's an article that claims Mrs Paterson's suicide was connected to discovering that she might be linked to the Randox affair.
As it is in the Daily Mail, I won't link to it.

[Thomas]

In 2005, the Labour/LibDem coalition government in Holyrood brought in the 'Water Services etc. (Scotland) Act 2005' to open up competition and force the deregulation of non-domestic water customers.

The Labour-led administration also created the Water Services etc. (Scotland) Act 2005 (Consequential Provisions and Modifications) Order 2005 which handed the Competition Commission in London the sole power to investigate and make judgments on proposed licence modifications or Scottish Water price-control decisions in cases where the Water Industry Commission for Scotland and the relevant private provider disagreed.

In April 2008, the new system went live, effectively privatising the provision of water for any non-domestic users. From that point on, all contracts for water provision in non-domestic instances (public bodies, companies and other private enterprises) have had to source their water via one of the providers available.

Not for the first time, Labour left a timebomb ticking and are now blaming the SNP for the fact that it's exploded.

https://wingsoverscotland.com/thicker-than-water/

[Thomas]

. What I definitely did not know about was any attempt by Scottish Labour to privatise it up there. A little more info re sources from you to confirm this would be welcome.

It wasnt just "scottish " labour steve. "Scottish " labour are merely an accounting unit under the control of london labour as you know.

To get to the point and answer your question , when Thatcher privatised english and welsh water in 1989 , as i earlier said this didnt happen in scotland , and water remained in the hands of various regional bodies in scotland under public ownership.

Under both london labour and conservative governments , from the late nineties onwards , pfi contracts were foisted on scotland  for sewage plants to treat scotlands  waste water , and when all the scottish regional water boards were amalgamted in 2002 to form one statutory corporation under the water industry scotland act , the new corporation inherited these labour and tory government pfi contracts which run for 25 to 40 years respectively , and have been a disaster.

In 2005 , the then labour led holyrood coalition passed the water services for scotland act allowing a new part private system to operate for non household customers where a service provider was chosen to supply water to businesses.

so in the late 90`s onwards both majors tories and blairs labour foisted pfi contracts on scottish water authorities , and labour part privatised supply to scottish businesses in 2005.

A massive £4.8 billion of public money is being paid to multinational corporations to run sewage works that are plagued with breakdowns, pollution and pongs, an investigation by the Sunday Herald has revealed.

Internal reports from Scottish Water lay bare for the first time the scandal of the sewage contracts signed with private companies under the Private Finance Initiative (PFI) backed by Labour and Conservative governments.

PFI was introduced as a way of trying to build public projects using private money. In the late 1990s nine PFI contracts were signed with private companies to build, refurbish and run 21 sewage plants across Scotland, dealing with half of the nation's human waste.

According to Scottish Water documents, the sewage plants they inherited when they formed in 2002 cost nearly £600 million in capital costs. Contracts to run them cover periods of between 25 and 40 years and are costing around £130 million a year, giving an overall cost to the public purse of £4.8 billion.

https://www.robedwards.com/2011/03/exposed-the-pfi-sewage-scandal.html

[papasmurf]

I know he has resigned, but can someone say exactly what he is supposed to have done?
Has he made a lot of money out of something on top of his £85k salary?
Honestly, I don't actually get this.

More at link:-
https://inews.co.uk/news/politics/owen-paterson-randox-133m-covid-testing-contract-despite-lacking-equipment-1288605
November 7, 2021 5:28 pm(Updated 7:29 pm)

Owen Paterson row: Randox won £133m Covid testing contract despite lacking equipment

Mr Paterson resigned last week for breaching lobbying rules

Diagnostics company Randox, which paid Owen Paterson for lobbying work, won a coronavirus testing contract worth £133m just days before government officials confirmed it did not have enough equipment, according to documents.
The company has been thrust into the spotlight since the row erupted concerning Conservative MP Mr Paterson's past lobbying work.
Questions also persist regarding Randox's ability to land Covid-19 contracts worth around half a billion pounds, many awarded without tender, over the past year and a half.

[srb7677]

I know he has resigned, but can someone say exactly what he is supposed to have done?
Has he made a lot of money out of something on top of his £85k salary?
Honestly, I don't actually get this.

I don't know the details, only what I have caught on the news.

But he is said to have proffited handsomely by using his MP position to lobby government on behalf of companies he was paid to work for.

But whatever the exact detail might be, he was investigated by the parliamentary authorities and found to have breached the  lobbying rules, effectively using his elected office to enrich himself in some way. The cross party commitee that investigated him and unanaimously found him in breach of existing rules presumably did so after examining all the evidence.

[Barry]

I know he has resigned, but can someone say exactly what he is supposed to have done?
Has he made a lot of money out of something on top of his £85k salary?
Honestly, I don't actually get this.

[papasmurf]

Ah. Is he standing there then ?

Allegedly