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The wheels of justice turn slowly in Westminster. Revelations from The Guardian this week about Michelle Mone, the Tory peer linked to the firm PPE Medpro, that won more than £200 million in PPE contracts during the pandemic, has caused an uproar – leading to calls for a full inquiry into PPE deals awarded during the pandemic.

The story pertains to the £29 million that Mone and her children reportedly received from the profits of these deals, transferred to an offshore account. 

Long-standing subscribers will remember that Byline Times was the first publication to reveal that PPE Medpro had received a contract – without competition – from the Government, and it’s important to remember the sheer scale of this crisis, which does not encompass just one firm.

Indeed, the Government has ended up spending £13.1 billion on PPE contracts – £8.7 billion of which it has written off – while £3 billion in COVID contracts were awarded to Conservative friends and donors.

This week, I gave a synopsis of exactly how this scandal unfolded.

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Cronyism has also been the bedfellow of chaos over the last few years of British politics. This can be seen most clearly in the housing sector, with a series of recent scandals now including the shocking death of Awaab Ishak, caused by prolonged exposure to mould in his home. Max Colbert explains how these scandals have their roots in the division and uncertainty of Westminster, with five different housing ministers having served this year alone.

These problems are only set to be exacerbated by a new wave of austerity imposed by Chancellor Jeremy Hunt, as Rachel Morris asks the pertinent question – “how will austerity work now when it was proven not to before?”

The lumbering elephant in the room is of course Brexit – stifling trade and foreign investment. To some relief, however, the agent of chaos that helped to bring about our hardest of Brexits, the European Research Group, appears to be losing its stranglehold on Tory MPs. 

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Another seismic political moment came from the Supreme Court this week, ruling that Scotland cannot hold another independence referendum without the prior approval of Westminster. 

For Anthony Barnett, this decision shows that the UK is now a “prison of nations”, while barrister Gareth Roberts considers the legal routes now available to First Minister Nicola Sturgeon.

And, as England continues its route through the World Cup, so continues the controversy over the decision to hold the tournament in Qatar. It’s worth keeping in mind, as reports Sian Norris, that the UK has signed trade deals with 23 countries that criminalise homosexuality – while Qatar owns many of the UK’s most famous landmarks, including the Shard.

Just as Brexit has weakened our economy, so too has the project eroded our soft power abroad, says Iain Overton, forcing us into unhealthy accords with the world’s oligarchies.

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As Matt Hancock (somehow) carries on his Australian Odyssey, AC Grayling reflects on the trivialisation of politics through TV – all while the former Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries carries on her war with one of the few bastions of sanity on our screens, Channel 4.

After the conclusion of the COP27 in Egypt, Rupert Read calls for more pessimism in how world leaders discuss the climate emergency. We “remain in the grip of stubborn optimism, which pretends we have not lost anything,” he writes.

Further east, Tom Mutch has another powerful dispatch from recently-liberated Novopetrovsk, and Paul Niland writes his obituary of the Putin regime.

Rounding off our front page, John Mitchinson’s Upside Down column explores how our brains reflect our lives, not our genitals.

Friday Night With Byline Times is taking a break this week – although, if you’d rather not watch the Three Lions, there is plenty more content on Byline TV and the Byline Times Podcast to get stuck into. Peter and Hardeep will be back in their usual slot at 7pm next Friday.

Have a great weekend.

Sam Bright is Investigations Editor of Byline Times

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