CAMPAIGNERS have slammed the Tories for putting their friends before the public following a damning court ruling today against cronyism at the heart of government.

A High Court judge said a government decision last year to award a contract to a company whose bosses were friends of the Prime Minister’s former special adviser Dominic Cummings was unlawful.

The Good Law Project took legal action against the Cabinet Office over the decision to pay more than £500,000 of taxpayers’ money to market research firm Public First, despite Mr Cummings’s close personal links to the company’s owners Rachel Wolf and James Frayne.

After the ruling, Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner wrote to PM Boris Johnson, demanding he launches an urgent investigation into whether Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove, an ally of Mr Cummings, broke the ministerial code over the affair.

Calling for Mr Gove to be sacked, Labour MP Richard Burgon warned: “We can’t let it become the norm that ministers break the law and then there are no consequences.”

The party called for the government to recoup any taxpayers’ money unlawfully handed out to Tory Party associates.

Ms Rayner said: “In the middle of a deadly pandemic not only were those at the heart of government giving out taxpayers’ money to their friends, they have wasted even more trying to cover it up.

“Ministers need to come clean about how they plan to recoup this cash, as well as the billions of pounds dished out to Tory donors and for duff personal protective equipment that wasn’t safe.”

Ruling against the government after a virtual hearing in February, Mrs Justice O’Farrell found the Good Law Project was “entitled to a declaration that the decision to award the contract to Public First gave rise to apparent bias and was unlawful.”

The campaign group’s director Jo Maugham said: “This is not government for the public good — it is government for the good of friends of the Conservative Party.

“We just don’t understand how the [PM] can run a Cabinet that acts without proper regard for the law.”

Mr Cummings, who gave evidence via a written statement, said he “obviously” did not ask for Public First to be brought in because of his personal connections with the firm, adding his actions were justified by the need to act quickly during the pandemic.

Justice O’Farrell accepted this but said the apparent decision not to consider others for the contract risked a perception of bias.

Former Labour Party chairman Ian Lavery told the Morning Star: “The contracts for chums [and] the making of millions for friends show how deep-seated the financial fiddling actually is in today’s Conservative Party.

“Breaking the law is now not an issue for ministers. The making of millionaires and the rich increasing their wealth while others have suffered so much during the pandemic is truly shocking.”

A Public First spokesperson stressed Justice O’Farrell had made no criticism of the company in her ruling, adding the firm was proud to help save lives during the pandemic.

A Cabinet Office spokesperson said: “We welcome the court’s ruling that we were entitled to award the contract on grounds of extreme urgency.

“The judge recognised the very complex circumstances at the height of the pandemic. The judgement makes clear that there was no suggestion of actual bias and that the decision to award the contract was not due to any personal or professional connections.”

Parliamentary reporter @TrinderMatt