Ex-Health Secretary Matt Hancock, a Shamed former Chairman of the Conservative Party, were today named among the Tories that helped nearly 50 firms secure PPE contracts worth millions during the height of pandemic.
David Cameron’s former tennis partner, Lord Feldman, recommended three companies to the ministers, before they received untendered contracts through a “VIP fast track”.
Following an affair that ended in a lockdown with his aide, Hancock had to quit. The list included four referrals from Dominic Cummings, ex-No10 adviser, and senior ministers such as Michael Gove.
After the incident, companies could obtain lucrative PPE equipment contract contracts through a highly-criticized system designed to expedite supply of essential material to help alleviate NHS shortages.
No evidence suggests that politicians had any role in awarding contracts for businesses to which they were referred during the procurement process.
Lord Feldman today denied any wrong-doing, insisting he was just passing ‘credible offers on to officials’ from Maxima Markets, SG Recruitment and Skinnydip. They were later awarded contracts worth £65million between them.
David Cameron’s former tennis partner, Lord Feldman, recommended three companies to the ministers, before they received untendered contracts through a “VIP fast track”.
After a summer affair, Mr Hancock quit. Four of the 47 business referrals were made by Dominic Cummings (ex-No10 aide), as well as other senior ministers like Michael Gove.
“During the first days of pandemic, I was an unpaid volunteer at the DHSC. It involved looking into offers received from potential sources for PPE or medical supplies and making credible offers to officials,” said the peer, a former tennis friend of David Cameron.
‘I did not know about SG Recruitment. Skinnydip or Maxima. And I had never been in a commercial relationship with any of their owners.
“I gave the offers to officials that considered them in compliance with the DHSC procurement regulations.
Mr Hancock referred four companies, Excalibur Healthcare, JD.Com, Monarch Acoustics Ltd and Nine United Ltd
The Government has faced repeated claims of cronyism over its £18billion rush to source PPE and other equipment during the Covid crisis, with ministers criticised for handing lucrative contracts to personal contacts with no experience in the sector.
The former health secretary has previously been censured after he unlawfully failed to publish details of billions of pounds’ worth of coronavirus related contracts.
After the Good Law Project brought legal action against Department of Health and Social Care for its ‘wholesale failing’ to disclose information about contracts during the Covid-19 epidemic, the High Court ruled in February.
The former landlord of Mr Hancock’s local pub also supplied tens of millions of Covid tests to the NHS after sending him a personal WhatsApp message – despite his company having no previous experience of making medical supplies.
Alex Bourne was running the Cock Inn at Thurlow, West Suffolk. This is just a short distance from the Conservative MP. Both are Facebook friends.
Hinpack was later established by him. This packaging company supplies the NHS with around 2 million disposable test tubes per week as well as 500,000 plastic funnels to test samples. The exact amount the company receives is still unknown.