The Guardian reports that questions are being asked of Kate Bingham, chair of the government’s vaccine taskforce, over whether she will benefit from a $65m (£49m) UK taxpayer-backed investment into a fund run by her private equity firm.
Bingham, a venture capitalist married to Treasury minister Jesse Norman, has already come under fire over allegations she revealed sensitive information to a private investors’ conference and insisted on hiring costly PR advisers.
Bingham “stepped away” from her role at private equity firm SV Health Investors in May to take an unpaid post as chair of the vaccine taskforce, which aims to ensure the UK population has access to vaccines as soon as possible. Two months later, SV Health Investors announced it had secured a $65m investment into its SV7 Impact Medicine Fund from British Patient Capital (BPC), which is entirely funded by the UK government.
Full story in The Guardian, 10 November 2020
