solely to males). The Plymouth Brethren Christian Church, the most hardline of all the Exclusive Brethren groups, has developed into a de facto hierarchical body which operates under the headship of an Elect Vessel, currently Bruce Hales of Australia. In place of an ordained ministry, an itinerant preacher often receives a "commendation" to the work of preaching and teaching that demonstrates the blessing and support of the assembly of origin. In most English-speaking countries, such preachers have traditionally been called full-time workers, labouring brothers, or on the Lord's work; in India, they are usually called Evangelists and very often are identified with Evg. in front of their name. A given assembly may have any number of full-time workers, or none at all. In the last twenty years, many Open Assemblies in Australia,America, and New Zealand, and some elsewhere, have begun calling their full-time workers pastors, but this is not seen as ordaining clergy and does not connote a transfer of any special spiritual authority. In such assemblies, the pastor is simply one of several elders, and differs from his fellow-elders only in being salaried to serve full-time. Depending on the assembly, he may or may not take a larger share of the responsibility for preaching than his fellow elders. UK government COVID-19 contracts Dozens of companies with connections to the Exclusive Brethren now known as the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church were awarded £2.2 billion in UK government COVID-19 contracts from the Department of Health and Social Care. This included providing Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). Several former members of the church have connections with the Conservative Party, and MPs have previously lobbied for the church to be given UK charitable status by the Charities Commission. Notable Brethren This list consists of mostly nineteenth-century figures who were associated with the Brethren movement before the 1848 schism. They are the leading historical figures common to both the Open and Exclusive Brethren. Two exceptions are H.A. Ironside and Watchman Nee, twentieth-century preachers who spent time associated with both the Open and Exclusive Brethren. See the respective articles for other more recent figures who have functioned primarily or entirely in either the Open Brethren or Exclusive Brethren: John Haigh - infamous serial killer, “The Acid Bath Killer” Robert Anderson – senior officer of Scotland Yard and Christian author; was a member of the Plymouth Brethren, first with Darby then with the Open Brethren party, before