- A blunder by the UK revolving-door watchdog suggests Cummings is looking to restart work with Babylon Heath.
ACOBA had redacted Babylon's name from an official letter but left it on the file name.- Cummings worked for Babylon before joining Downing Street. It could benefit from a £250M fund set up after he joined.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson's former top advisor appears to be seeking to rejoin Babylon Health, an AI healthcare firm that could benefit from a £250 million government fund set up during his tenure, Insider can reveal.
The accidental disclosure, which suggests
ACOBA acts as the watchdog on the revolving door between public and private sector roles for former ministers, senior civil servants, and special advisors.
ACOBA wrote to the Cabinet Office on September 10 noting its refusal to offer advice on an application made by Cummings for work with a company that ACOBA redacted prior to publication.
But the document was uploaded with "Babylon" in the file name, as can be seen here:
Babylon could benefit from a £250 million fund Cummings helped set up
Cummings started working for Johnson in Downing Street in July 2019, and was dismissed in November 2020. Before joining Downing Street, Cummings worked for Babylon Health, according to a 2019 investigation by The Guardian and The Bureau of Investigative Journalism.
Cummings previously advised Babylon Health on its communications strategy and senior recruitment, formally working with the firm up to July 2018 but continuing to advise on recruitment until September 2018, the investigation said.
On August 8, 2019, just over two weeks after Johnson's premiership began with Cummings at his side, Johnson and then-Health Secretary Matt Hancock announced a £250 million investment in the use of AI in the UK's National Health Service.
Babylon Health has not yet received any investment from the fund, but welcomed its announcement, The Guardian and the Bureau reported. There is no suggestion of wrongdoing by Babylon Health.
ACOBA has refused to offer Cummings advice on his application to work for Babylon Health, as his consultancy work with the firm would overlap with other consultancy services Cummings previously advertised on his £10-a-month Substack.
Cummings had advertised those consultancy services without first making an application to ACOBA, and failed to respond to a request for information by ACOBA. This was reported by ACOBA as a breach of the Business Appointment Rules, which are set down by the government and form part of special advisors' contracts.
ACOBA told the Cabinet Office it would refuse to consider any further applications from Cummings until it receives "a full reply to our previous correspondence and written assurance of full cooperation with all future applications."
'Doesn't think the rules apply to him'
Justin Madders MP, Labour's shadow health minister, told Insider: "Once again he doesn't think the rules apply to him."
Cummings has recently written about the issues of the revolving door on his paid-for Substack.
"This 'revolving door' is a huge problem among UK officials and probably worst of all in the defence sector where so much is classified to prevent scrutiny. Parliament totally fails in its duty to probe the revolving door and its corrupt consequences," he wrote last week.
"A tiny bit of this has been exposed recently in the way senior officials who have left got in touch with old comrades to seek favours during covid but Parliament has as usual done little to delve into it and I'm not aware of a single person being fired."
"Ironically some officials have successfully spread the idea with the political media that I got a payrise during covid and got a payoff when I left - I refused both, as the records show, but the media obviously prefers to spread lies about me than dig into institutionalised corruption which is largely ignored."
Cummings did not respond to a question from Insider on a recent Substack ask-me-anything about his previous breach of government rules.
Cummings, the Cabinet Office, Babylon Health, and ACOBA did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment for this story.