But the High Court dismisses claims the then-health secretary showed bias when making appointments.
The UK government failed to comply with equality law when making appointments as part of its Covid-19 pandemic response, the High Court has ruled.
In a statement, the department of health and social care said: "The judgement is clear that all claims raised by the Good Law Project were dismissed and the ruling itself stated their claim 'fails in its entirety'.
The Act states a public body has a duty to "advance equality of opportunity between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it".Jason Coppel QC, who led the legal teams representing the plaintiffs, said the government had a "policy or practice" of "making appointments to posts critical to the pandemic response" without adopting sufficiently fair or open competitive processes.
Two other claims - that the government had exhibited "indirect discrimination" and "apparent bias" in making the appointments - were dismissed."The judgment handed down today by the High Court is incredibly significant to the British people," said Dr Halima Begum, the Runnymede Trust's chief executive.
"The court judgment also states that 'the evidence provides no support... at all' for the allegation that Dido Harding secured senior positions on the basis of 'personal or political connections' in the government." he said.