DOMINIC CUMMINGS allegedly tried to fast-track a £530,000 grant to an external data team early in the Covid-19 pandemic, bypassing due diligence procedures.

Leaked emails, seen by the Guardian and other media organisations, suggest that Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s former top adviser urged civil servants to issue the payment with “no procurement, no lawyers, no meetings, no delay.”

Mr Cummings’s intervention, reportedly made in March 2020, is said to have followed a request from not-for-profit research organisation Our World in Data for funds to retain staff. 

It was reportedly then passed to Health Secretary Matt Hancock, who emailed Matthew Gould, head of NHS digital unit NHSX, to back the request. 

Mr Cummings is said to have then emailed Mr Gould seeking assurances that the money would be sent within 24 hours. Mr Gould reportedly expressed concern, but the grant was subsequently issued in instalments from last summer. 

Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner said: “This government clearly thinks the rules do not apply to them.

“Time after time the Tories have shown a disdain for the rules governing how taxpayers’ money is spent.”

The government claimed that due diligence was carried out on all contracts. Mr Cummings had not commented as the Morning Star went to press.