The Cabinet Office failed to follow proper processes when it allowed taxpayers’ money to be used to fund Boris Johnson’s Partygate legal bills, the UK’s public spending watchdog has said.
In a report that will cause embarrassment inside the Cabinet Office, Gareth Davies, head of the NAO, said its audit team had exerted “significant effort” to investigate whether the spending was “a legitimate use of public money”.
It was criticised at the time by some, including the Labour party, which said that given Johnson should have paid the bill himself given he was making millions from his post-Downing Street career.
The then-permanent secretary in No 10, who was not named in the report but is understood to be Samantha Jones, failed to follow proper processes when the initial contract for £129,000 was awarded last August, said the NAO.
A spokesperson for the Cabinet Office said: “The government has been consistently clear that the contract award followed the proper procurement process.”
Whitehall sources pointed to the Treasury agreeing the spending on Johnson’s legal fees was “regular” as further evidence all the correct processes were followed.
The original article contains 519 words, the summary contains 184 words. Saved 65%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
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The Cabinet Office failed to follow proper processes when it allowed taxpayers’ money to be used to fund Boris Johnson’s Partygate legal bills, the UK’s public spending watchdog has said.
In a report that will cause embarrassment inside the Cabinet Office, Gareth Davies, head of the NAO, said its audit team had exerted “significant effort” to investigate whether the spending was “a legitimate use of public money”.
It was criticised at the time by some, including the Labour party, which said that given Johnson should have paid the bill himself given he was making millions from his post-Downing Street career.
The then-permanent secretary in No 10, who was not named in the report but is understood to be Samantha Jones, failed to follow proper processes when the initial contract for £129,000 was awarded last August, said the NAO.
A spokesperson for the Cabinet Office said: “The government has been consistently clear that the contract award followed the proper procurement process.”
Whitehall sources pointed to the Treasury agreeing the spending on Johnson’s legal fees was “regular” as further evidence all the correct processes were followed.
The original article contains 519 words, the summary contains 184 words. Saved 65%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!