I guess under the Tories it is about who you know, not whether you are qualified when it comes to accessing taxpayer cash. It worked for the pole dancing American bimbo who was a “close friend” of Boris when London’s Mayor and, as you can see below, with the blues in power, Neill Ricketts of Versarien (VRS) is a man well positioned to open the right doors. Today, his firm confirmed that it had received the first £1.96 million of a £5 million soft taxpayer loan from Innovate UK. Senior Tories such as Alok Sharma and Rishi Sunak were warned that Versarien did not qualify but the loan went ahead regardless. Let’s be clear this is the biggest ever loan by Innovate UK by a mile and this is pure and simple sleaze and here is why.