Covid Inquiry: The Conservative Peers Named in the VIP Lane Scandal
As the Covid Inquiry slams Boris Johnson's Government's ‘too little, too late’ response to Covid, Russell Scott looks at the Conservative peers who are implicated in the UK's disastrous response
By now, most people have heard of Baroness Mone and the PPE Medpro saga. The Conservative peer who recently admitted her family still have £60million tucked away in a family trust fund, a fortune made from the profits of a disastrous VIP Lane PPE deal, but at least 10 other current Conservative Party Lords have also been linked to “VIP” firms.
The VIP Lane was a discreet, fast-track channel that led to billions of pounds worth of public contracts being awarded to politically connected suppliers, primarily without any formal competitive tendering procedures and shielded from public view – a process that was eventually declared unlawful by the high court.
During this period, whilst working for the Good Law Project, I was able to force the previous Government to release the names of the suppliers who benefitted from the two VIP lanes and also, importantly, the names of the people who referred them into the fast-track route.
We discovered that over half of all referrals onto the PPE VIP Lane had ties back to the Conservative Party and in particular to members of the House of Lords.
Incredibly, just three Tory peers - Lord Agnew, Lord Deighton and Lord Feldman, alongside former health minister Matt Hancock, were responsible for referring a total of 60 suppliers onto the VIP Lane. An astonishing number when you consider the countless times the previous Government claimed there was no political interference in the procurement process during this period.
But there’s so much more to discover. Here’s a reminder of some of the Byline Times reporting on the Peers with connections to the controversial VIP lane.
Lord Bethell and the VIP supplier that saw its profits skyrocket by 4800%
In April, Byline Times revealed how a company that was placed on the ‘VIP’ priority route for COVID contracts under the last Conservative Government, saw their profits soar to £178 million after successfully lobbying a senior Conservative peer to help them secure a contract for hundreds of millions of pounds worth of coronavirus tests that were later deemed mostly unusable.
Financial records reveal that Southampton based company Primer Design Ltd, owned by French parent company Novacyt, had a bumper year during the first year of COVID. Its turnover in 2019 was £5.5 million, but following the award of two huge VIP contracts from the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) in 2020, this ballooned to £273 million of which £178 million was declared as profit . Two of the firms’ directors received bonuses of £8.5 million and £3 million.
Private Eye noted that Primer Design’s profit margins were “double the world’s most profitable company and creator of the most in demand “intellectual property”, Apple, and three times that achieved by Google”.
The contracts ended in disaster, after the DHSC deemed the testing kits supplied by Primer Design to be “unfit for public use” and lacking the “robustness” required. The majority of the kits were never used — resulting in the UK Government attempting to seek a £145 million refund from Primer Design and its parent company, Novacyt, via the UK courts.
Both firms rejected the claims made by the DHSC and tried to counter sue the Government, eventually reaching an out of court settlement in June last year.
Questions still remained about how the firm was able to secure its place on the VIP lane. However, documents released to Byline Times shed new light on this matter.
Lord Bethell held three meetings with executives from Novacyt on 4 April 2020 and 6 April 2020 to discuss the firm’s COVID-19 testing capabilities — meetings that the Conservative Peer failed to declare until June 2021, some 14 months later, as first reported by Byline Times.
However, emails disclosed to Byline Times via the Freedom of Information Act show that former Health Minister, Lord Bethell, was in regular correspondence with Novacyt and Primer Design in the days before the company landed its first VIP lane contract in April 2020.
Here’s what the emails reveal:
Following a telephone meeting between Lord Bethell and Novacyt, the firm emailed Lord Bethell attaching a memo containing a series of requests where “the Government can help Novacyt” as it begins “scaling up of the COVID-19 testing requirements”. The four-page document seeks help on a broad range of issues including “financial support” from the DHSC as well as help with logistics. The firm also suggested the Government could provide “an immediate injection of £5million”.
The informal email concluded with Novacyt officials suggesting to Bethell that “now it’s time to light the BBQ and grab an hour of sunshine”. The email received a response within half an hour and a follow up call was organised for the following day.
Lord Bethell thanked Novacyt for the “very helpful note” before looping in another Conservative Peer, Lord Andrew Feldman, to the email chain. Lord Feldman was operating as an advisor to health ministers during this time and controversially helped refer numerous companies onto the VIP lane.
The firm also requested Lord Bethell’s office issue a letter to Novcacyt to acknowledge “the efforts” of Novacyt and Primer Design staff. Bethell obliged on the same day with a handwritten note embellished with the House of Lords letterhead, reading: “On behalf of the DHSC, I want to thank everyone at Novacyt for the remarkable contribution you are making in the fight against Coronavirus. It is recognised at the highest levels. And massively appreciated. Your ever, Lord Bethell.”
Novacyt officials lobbied Lord Bethell directly via email again on 15 April 2020 and 20 April 2020 and in the subsequent months regarding products it could offer the DHSC, with Bethell noting in response that he had “played this into our recently upgraded system and will get back to you”.
Novacyt’s sustained lobbying efforts paid off, and on 26 April 2020 the company was awarded it’s first, £63 million contract from the DHSC, on the same day company executives emailed Lord Bethell and officials in the Cabinet Office thanking them for “your confidence and support”. Bethell replied the following morning claiming “this is truly great news”.
Lord Deighton helped firm he held shares in land £58 million Covid PPE contracts
In March, Byline Times was the first to report that documents newly released by the Covid Inquiry revealed the peer also helped a “generous and loyal supporter” of the Conservative party secure another £93 million PPE contract.
Back in 2020, a report by the New York Times revealed that Lord Deighton had financial or personal connections to seven companies awarded PPE contracts.
Honeywell Safety Products
One of these was Honeywell Safety Products, which secured a £58 million contract from the Department of Health and Social Care to provide PPE in May 2020.
Lord Deighton held shares in the firm’s parent company – Honeywell International Inc.
It was revealed that Lord Deighton held a meeting with “senior” representatives from Honeywell to discuss the firm’s face mask deal on the 27 April 2020. Just 10 days later Honeywell secured a £58million contract to supply the same masks. The deal was awarded without any formal competitive tending process.
Lord Deighton confirmed in his witness statement issued to the Covid Inquiry that “on 27 April 2020, I held a senior meeting with Honeywell to discuss the high-level plans which were then passed to procurement teams for review”.
The statement also confirms that Deighton was involved in correspondence regarding the “price comparison” of the masks being offered by Honeywell. The Conservative peer did discuss his investment in Honeywell with senior civil servants, but it was concluded “there would be no conflict, given the relatively small contracts would not move the share price of such a large company”.
Deighton also denied any involvement in approving the contract to Honeywell.
Globus (Shetland) UK
An email chain published in March also reveals that Conservative Peer and party donors Lord Stuart Marks and Haraldur Agustsson lobbied Lord Deighton in the weeks prior to Augustsson’s company Globus (Shetland) UK being awarded a huge PPE contract.
In a remarkable email sent to Lord Deighton by Lord Marks on the 17 May 2020, Marks pleads with Deighton to contact Globus, stating:
“I would be grateful if you could take a look at this. Haraldur is a generous and loyal supporter of the Party and as you will read from his email is making a big commitment to supporting UK manufacturing of PPE”.
Lord Deighton responds within ten minutes and thanks Marks and simply states “will do”.
Six weeks later, in July 2020, Globus (Shetland) UK secured a £93 million contract from the DHSC to supply FFP3 face masks – another contract awarded without any open tendering process
Emails published by the Inquiry have shed some light on how Lord Marks was introduced to Lord Deighton during this period.
Lord Feldman, another Conservative Peer, was advising health ministers and Lord Deighton on PPE procurement during the pandemic and in a frank email sent by Feldman to Deighton on the 30 April 2020 introduced Marks as “the wonderful Stuart Marks, the Northern Treasurer of the Party and tech entrepreneur, so a really trusted source”.
Within one hour of receiving the introduction from Lord Feldman, Deighton responds and suggests a call later the same day with Marks.
Conservative Peer Lord Feldman Helped ‘Good Friend’ of Michael Gove Win VIP PPE Deal
Byline Times also reported on Feldman’s work behind the scenes lobbying on behalf of other Conservative-linked PPE firms such as Meller Designs – a “good friend” of Cabinet Minister Michael Gove.
Records released to the Good Law Project, following a lengthy Freedom of Information request battle in 2021, had already revealed that Feldman had referred three suppliers on the VIP lane – also known as the High Priority Lane. These firms (SG recruitment, Maxima Markets and Skinny Dip) then went on to secure lucrative PPE contracts from the former Conservative Government.
However, the Covid Inquiry has published documents that suggest the Conservative Peer’s involvement in the VIP lane scandal was much more extensive.
Feldman was ‘secretly’ hired by the Department of Health and Social Care in early 2020 to advise ministers on PPE procurement. It has since been revealed that he lobbied officials on multiple occasions on behalf of another VIP lane supplier, Meller Designs – owned by Conservative Party Donor David Meller and long time acquaintance of former Cabinet Minister Michael Gove.
Furthermore, evidence published by the Inquiry suggests Feldman referred a further 18 companies onto the VIP lane – albeit they didn’t subsequently secure a deal.
On 3 April 2020, Lord Feldman and Lord Bethell emailed civil servants working in the VIP lane to chase progress on an offer of FFP3 face masks by Meller Design. The company’s owner, David Meller has donated circa £60,000 to the Conservative Party. According to records, Feldman stated in his email that Mr Meller was “a good friend of Michael Gove”.
In early May 2020, Feldman came to Meller’s rescue again after civil servants had raised concerns over the suitability of IIR Masks being proposed by Meller Design. According to a witness statement published by the inquiry, the firm needed to obtain approval from the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), known as a “derogation” to allow the masks to be used in the NHS. Feldman lobbied officials at the Cabinet Office to “expedite the process”.
Feldman’s Private secretary also liaised directly with officials at the MHRA to ensure the “derogation request recieve their immediate attention”. Two weeks later “a contract for the type IIR masks was subsequently awarded” to Meller Designs.
Meller Designs went on to secure six PPE contracts via the VIP lane worth circa £160 million in value.
Lord Feldman and 18 Further VIP Referrals
A witness statement provided by a Cabinet Office civil servant in January this year provided explosive new evidence, namely:
Lord Feldman was involved in the referral of three companies to the HPL who later received contracts, and “referred at least 18 other companies to the HPL that did not receive contracts”
The inquiry documents list the new companies as follows: “Aquanima, Ben Gerbi Consulting, BHA Medical, Covaflu, FOSROC International, JDM Global Retail Solution, JHT Group, Lancea Partners, Mary Gorman, Next Pharma International, Nick Mason, Padma Textiles HK, Protector Plus LLC, Rostam Capital, Rowena Johnson, SGH Global, Suttersmill and The Hut Group.”
The Civil servant goes on to note: “As might be expected of a former party chair, some of his referrals had some connection to the Conservative Party but others did not.” This included two firm linked “linked to Ben Elliott, then Chair of the Conservative Party” and another company FOSROC International “linked to Jim Hay, a party donor”.
Byline Times also revealed that Lord Feldman had lobbied Boris Johnson to push through a ventilator contract for Dyson. Private messages between Boris Johnson and his team reveal they were “on a mission” to secure the contract with leading Brexiteer James Dyson.
Recently we also published our deep dive into Michael Gove, now Lord Gove’s numerous links to the VIP Lane.
Gove claims he had no “active role” in the procurement of Covid PPE during the pandemic, yet evidence suggests he was involved in multiple VIP deals worth over £1billion.
Russell Scott’s brilliant new book: VIP Lane: Cronyism and the Pandemic is available to buy now from Byline Books.
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