Labor calls for investigation into MOD contracts with IT firm linked to Tory minister's husband

In a scathing letter to the Cabinet Secretary, Deputy Chief Angela Rayner has called for answers over the £24m contracts awarded to Centerprise International, whose civil servant Michael Keegan, partner of health minister Gillian Keegan, is non-executive director of

Conservative minister Gillian Keegan, whose husband Michael is non-executive director of Centerprise International

Tonight Labor demanded answers from the government after it emerged that an IT company with a non-executive director married to a Tory minister has been awarded more than £24million in contracts with the MOD.

In a scathing letter to the Cabinet Secretary, Deputy Leader Angela Rayner slammed a 'failure to fill the gaps' and expressed concern over incoming PM Liz Truss' reluctance to appoint an ethics counsellor.

This follows reports that Michael Keegan, partner of Health Minister Gillian Keegan, is a senior Cabinet Office official who concurrently sits on the board of private company Centerprise International.

The company, of which Mr Keegan is a non-executive director, secured 17 contracts between October 2019 and May 2020, according to official documents, sparking allegations of 'cronyism'.

Mr Keegan's role in the civil service is to manage relations between the government and the arms company BAE Systems - but the company says he had no role in securing the contracts for Centerprise International.

Ms Rayner wrote to Cabinet Secretary Simon Case decrying a 'blatant disregard for decency' and said a 'culture of cronyism' is at the heart of government.

Angela Rayner has written to Cabinet Secretary Simon Case demanding answers (

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Ms Rayner's letter, seen by The Mirror, called for the matter to be looked into by Mr Case, as the government has yet to replace ethics adviser Lord Geidt, who left Boris Johnson's government in June.

She wrote: 'It was extremely concerning that the Crown representative in the Cabinet Office and Ministry of Defense responsible for overseeing government contracts with the MOD also sat on the board of Centerprise.

"At the very least, entrusting oversight of MOD contracts to board members with a vested interest shows a clear disregard for the rules of decency and fairness...