Five whistleblowers: the 2024 Contrarian Prize shortlist

Stephen Cresswell, an infrastructure cost forecasting expert, risked his livelihood to highlight a scandal at HS2. In his view, senior managers at HS2 had ordered staff to deliberately cover

up the escalating costs of its high-speed line, in order to ensure that politicians would continue to pump billions of pounds of public money into the project. He claims that “costs, risks,

timescales and benefits [were] being manipulated to suit individuals or organisational goals rather than the public interest”. He felt compelled to speak out as “you have to live by your

values” and didn’t want a career “based on helping fraudsters”. His contract was not renewed by HS2.

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