Mark Leftly: You hold constructive talks and then you cough up £224m

Westminster Outlook It emerged this week that the Massachusetts-based Raytheon has won a drawn-out legal fight with the Home Office.

In 2010 and just weeks after entering government, the Home Secretary Theresa May blamed Raytheon for a series of failures on the £750m contract known as eBorders – an immigration system designed to count people in and out of the country. A tribunal found that the termination of the contract was unlawful, awarding Raytheon £224m, including damages and interest.

For years, this case has been held in secrecy, partly so that the parties could speak openly and frankly about the events that led to Mrs May’s decision, perhaps even vindicating the tough-talking Home Secretary.

Fat lot of good that did, then.

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