Director of Covid vaccine tsar’s PR firm linked to Dominic Cummings’ father-in-law

Johnson and Hancock hail contribution of Kate Bingham to ordering millions of vaccine doses

Boris Johnson’s senior aide Dominic Cummings (Getty Images)

A director of the PR firm paid £670,000 to advise the government’s Covid-19 vaccine tsar is an associate of Downing Street aide Dominic Cummings’ father-in-law.

Details of the link emerged as Boris Johnson issued a statement of support for Kate Bingham after she came under fire for the contracts with Admiral Public Relations and Marketing.

And health secretary Matt Hancock insisted the country should say a “massive thank you” to Ms Bingham for her role in securing 40 million doses of the new Pfizer vaccine, which has shown 90 per cent effectiveness in protecting against coronavirus.

According to Companies House filings, revealed by the Financial Times and HuffPost UK, Admiral’s officers include public relations professional Georgina Collingwood Cameron and Angus Collingwood Cameron, who is company secretary.

And Mr Collingwood Cameron is also listed as a director since 2004 of Chillingham Castle Wild Cattle Association, alongside the castle’s owner Sir Humphry Wakefield, whose daughter Mary is married to Mr Cummings, the prime minister’s most senior adviser.

Labour’s shadow Cabinet Office minister Rachel Reeves demanded clarity from the government over the award of the contract to Admiral, which was made without competitive tendering.

“These revelations raise yet more serious questions about how taxpayer money is being spent during the pandemic and how the government is being run,” said Ms Reeves.

 “The public deserve urgent answers as to how a small PR agency was simply gifted such a large contract – and what exactly was delivered for such a price tag.

“We know Dominic Cummings doesn’t think the rules apply to him, but this is no way to treat taxpayer money. The prime minister must be transparent about the processes he has put in place to allow such potential breaches of public trust.”

But a Downing Street spokesperson insisted it was “ridiculous” to draw any link with Mr Cummings, saying he had never heard of the Camerons.

“It is ridiculous to make such an imaginary and tenuous link. Dominic Cummings has never heard of Georgina or Angus Cameron," said the spokesperson.

“Specialist communications support was procured by the Vaccine Taskforce in line with proper practice.”

A source later said that the Chillingham listing at Companies House was out of date and that Mr Collingwood Cameron had in fact stepped down as an unpaid trustee of the cattle association in 2019. It is understood neither he nor his wife have met Mr Cummings.

Venture capitalist Ms Bingham – the wife of Tory minister Jesse Norman – was appointed in the summer to head the government’s vaccine task force and is understood to be leaving the role next month.

She faced criticism for discussing the government’s investment priorities in vaccines with US financiers at a £150-a-head event, though the government defended her and said all the information she revealed at the conference had been approved in advance.

And the Sunday Times revealed this weekend that she had hired Admiral to provide PR services, despite having access to civil service press officers.

In a message on Twitter, Mr Johnson paid tribute to her contribution towards securing millions of doses of the coronavirus vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech, which is expected to come into use by the end of the year.

“Huge thanks to Kate Bingham and the Vaccine Taskforce for all their fantastic work in securing 40 million doses of the @pfizer & @BioNTech_Group vaccine and over 300 million doses of other promising vaccine candidates,” said the prime minister.

There was no immediate response from Admiral or the CWCA to requests for comment.

On Monday, No 10 insisted Mr Johnson had full confidence in Ms Bingham as Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said the taxpayer bill for consultants “can’t be justified”.

The prime minister’s official spokesperson told reporters the decision to hire PR advisers was signed off by officials at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, despite the Whitehall department having existing communications staff.

“Specialist communications support was contracted by the vaccine taskforce for a time-limited period in line with existing public sector recruitment practices and frameworks,” they added.

Asked on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme whether he was “comfortable” with public money being used to hire eight full-time consultants, Mr Hancock said: “Well that was signed off by an official in the business department.

“What I’d say the vaccine taskforce has procured for this country, for the whole UK, 340 million doses of six different leading vaccines, including spotting this one, the Pfizer one, which has become the frontrunner, alongside the AstraZeneca one. We’ve needed throughout this pandemic enormous talent from outside.”

Quizzed again on whether Ms Bingham needed a separate media strategy, he replied: “Obviously I didn’t know about that contract.

“Frankly, what matters is the substance of what the vaccine task force has done and I would go out of my way to thank Kate Bingham for the service she has given this country and the whole of the vaccines task force because it means we are one of the best placed countries around the world for access to vaccines.”

The health secretary added: “I’m comfortable with the fact we’ve secured this unbelievable array of vaccines and we are delivering it as fast as we possibly can.”