Partygate inquiry: Breaches ‘obvious’ to Johnson as ex PM feels ‘vindicated’ by Sue Gray Starmer switch March 3, 2023 Evidence strongly suggests breaches of coronavirus rules would have been “obvious” to Boris Johnson during partygate, the inquiry into whether he lied to MPs has said. The cross-party Privileges Committee said the Commons may have been misled multiple times as they set up a live showdown with the former prime minister for later this month. [...]
Matt Hancock leaked Whatsapps not ‘matter’ for data breach inquiry, says regulator March 2, 2023 Matt Hancock’s leaked Whatsapps about the Covid-19 pandemic are not a subject for a data breach investigation “at this stage”, a top regulator has said. Journalist Isabel Oakeshott, who worked with former health secretary Hancock on his book, Pandemic Diaries, handed over thousands of Whatsapp messages to the Telegraph. The paper published claims including that [...]
PMQs: Sunak escapes Brexit grilling amid Hancock WhatsApp row March 1, 2023 Prime minister Rishi Sunak has escaped a major Brexit grilling over the Windsor Framework amid a row over former health secretary Matt Hancock’s leaked Covid-19 WhatsApp messages. The PM – whose latest EU trade agreement is widely hoped to end the power-sharing deadlock in Northern Ireland – dodged intense scrutiny over the deal in the [...]
Matt Hancock denies claims he ignored Covid care home testing advice March 1, 2023 Matt Hancock has denied claims he ignored expert advice on care home testing during the coronavirus pandemic after leaked WhatsApp messages were published by the Telegraph. Journalist Isabel Oakeshott shared more than 100,000 messages with the newspaper after receiving them while working on Hancock’s Pandemic Diaries book, including text exchanges with Boris Johnson, Rishi Sunak [...]
Serco’s revenues surge as UK ‘immigration contracts’ offset a tumble in Covid testing work February 28, 2023 British contractor Serco said its revenues continued to grow in 2022 as surging UK government demand for its ‘immigration services’ offset a drop in Covid-related work. Serco said its overall revenues increased by £109m to £4.53bn in 2022, despite a £480m drop in income from work surrounding Covid-19. Higher revenues from Serco’s businesses running [...]
Insurance sector deal-making hits decade high but 2023 outlook remains shaky February 26, 2023 Insurance sector M&A deals surged to a 10-year high in 2022, as the end of Covid-19 drove an uptick in deal-making activity. Insurance companies completed 449 M&A deals last year, marking the highest number of deals for a decade, new data from Clyde & Co shows. The surge in deals, from 418 in 2021 to [...]
Moderna investors left disappointed by vaccine maker’s subdued sales forecast despite strong fourth quarter February 23, 2023 Moderna has reaffirmed annual sales forecast of $5bn (£4.1bn) for its Covid-19 vaccines despite its fourth-quarter sales exceeding estimates, on expectations of lower demand for the shots in the fourth year of the pandemic. Sales of the vaccine, Moderna’s sole commercial product, were expected to fall sharply this year from $18.4bn in 2022 as most people [...]
Legal tech revolution: Firms invest in cost saving AI tools like ChatGPT to improve profitability February 15, 2023 Law firms are continuing to invest in cost-saving technologies, including artificial intelligence driven tools like ChatGPT, in seeking to stave off falling profitability. A sharp drop in M&A deals has hit US law firms’ profitability, wiping out the majority of all gains they made during Covid, the research from Thomson Reuters shows. US law firms [...]
London Heathrow back to its best? 5.4m passengers passed through in January as satisfaction soars February 13, 2023 More than 5.4m people travelled through London’s Heathrow airport this January, marking the busiest start to the year since 2020. Sharp upticks in travelers from Europe, North America, and the Asia Pacific region bolstered the London airport’s passenger figures to heights last seen before Covid-19, Heathrow said. The airport also saw customer satisfaction return to [...]
UK firms cut back on hiring as rising costs hit business optimism February 13, 2023 British firms have begun cutting back on hiring as services businesses suffered a hit from the UK’s cost-of-living crisis, new research from BDO shows. Hiring has fallen to its lowest levels since December 2021, following a sharp drop in business output over the previous year, data from BDO’s business trends report shows. UK business output [...]