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Ben Warner: 2 years ago he was doing physics postdoc. Now he’s a ‘data scientist’ advising govt & sitting on SAGE. His brother, Marc - who worked with Cummings on Vote Leave - won £250m NHS contract when Cummings entered Downing Street. And now the contract for NHS tracking app
There are so many questions about Marc Warner’s firm, Faculty, & its role now with NHS & its previous work for Vote Leave & Conservatives. But first the back story..
Cummings boasted on his blog how ‘physicists’ won it for Leave. But who were they?? A mystery until I found invoice on Electoral Comm website for ‘Advanced Skills Initiative’. Eventually realised this was ASI - now Faculty - & put in inquiry. A day later, they outed themselves
We still don& #39;t know what ASI/Faculty did for Leave because Cummings refused to answer parliament& #39;s questions. The invoices didn& #39;t add up. (Literally, £42k appeared on invoices but not on Electoral Commission register). See @brexitsham& #39;s write-up here http://www.brexitshambles.com/who-were-vote-leaves-mysterious-data-scientists/">https://www.brexitshambles.com/who-were-...
So then, in December, we hear Ben Warner, a principal with Faculty, is working with Cummings on the general election. I didn& #39;t manage to write about that because one of these turned up...
A week later, *after* the general election, it& #39;s revealed through the usual channels: @ShippersUnbound. Ben Warner had left Faculty, had run & #39;the Tories& #39; private election model& #39; & was now the new & #39;data geek& #39; at Number 10 https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/leave-campaigns-data-geek-joins-no-10-3klj3566j">https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/l...
And then, earlier this month @PaulLewis & team reveal Faculty - that& #39;s Ben& #39;s brother, Marc, remember - has won govt contract along with Peter Thiel& #39;s Palantir to model NHS confidential data, including impact of & #39;herd immunity& #39; https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/12/uk-government-using-confidential-patient-data-in-coronavirus-response?CMP=share_btn_tw">https://www.theguardian.com/world/202...
Faculty - speaking through its lawyers - tells @guardian that it won the contract through a competitive tender process & Cummings had nothing to do with it
Except that& #39;s not what NHS England told @davidhencke. Faculty & Palantir contracts did not go to competitive tender. NHS England said wasn& #39;t required because of pre-existing contracts from Aug 2019 - just after Cummings entered No 10 - for £250m NHS deal https://bylinetimes.com/2020/04/22/palantir-coronavirus-contract-did-not-go-to-competitive-tender/">https://bylinetimes.com/2020/04/2...
So that& #39;s Ben Warner. Who now either sits & #39;on& #39; SAGE. Or & #39;at& #39; SAGE. Or whatever you want to call it. While his brother now has access to entire our health data & is modelling the pandemic. Alongside Peter Thiel& #39;s Palantir.
A couple more points. GMG Ventures, the Guardian& #39;s venture arm, invested in Faculty back in November. No, I don& #39;t know why, you& #39;ll have to ask them. It certainly hasn& #39;t stopped the reporting though. @PaulLewis& #39;s investigations team doing stellar job https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2019/11/29/home-office-partner-faculty-raises-fresh-cash-investors-pile/">https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technolog...
