London — The UK government was dealt an embarrassing setback after a judge found it unlawfully awarded a £564,000 coronavirus contract to a research firm whose owners were friends of Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s former chief adviser.

The UK’s handing of the award to Public First during the pandemic “gave rise to apparent bias and was unlawful”, the London high court judge ruled on Wednesday. The firm’s owners were alleged to have close connections with both the prime minister’s ex-aide Dominic Cummings and MP Michael Gove...

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