News in Brief

Catching Up With Old Friends

The Conservative Covid cronyism revelations continue.

Another example of the scandal has come to light with the news that former Prime Minister David Cameron helped an old Etonian school friend obtain fast-track access to Department of Health officials at the start of the crisis, Russell Scott reports.

According to newly released correspondence, Hugh Warrender’s firm – Fin De Guerre Strategies – made representations to the UK Government on behalf of its client, a South Korean Covid testing firm, to supply testing kits during the early days of the pandemic. But there was a problem.

In the early hours of 3 April 2020, Cameron received an email from Fin De Guerre Strategies with the subject headline “need your help – I have a supplier of Covid-19 tests but we can’t contact anyone who replies to offer them”.