Post by Totheleft on Feb 20, 2024 19:38:33 GMT
Michael Gove lobbied by Covid VIP lane’s biggest winner of PPE contracts
Exclusive: then Cabinet Office minister had phone call with Unispace, which weeks later got the first of £680m worth of deals
Other cases
The BMJ
Covid-19: Ten Conservative MPs and peers referred companies to “VIP lane” that won £1.6bn of PPE contracts
BMJ 2021; 375 doi: doi.org/10.1136/bmj.n2825 (Published 17 November 2021)
Cite this as: BMJ 2021;375:n2825
Ten Conservative MPs and peers referred companies through the government’s “VIP lane” for personal protective equipment (PPE) contracts, a leaked document has revealed.1
The document, first seen by the Politico website,2 details 47 companies referred to the government’s high priority list for contracts to supply PPE during the covid-19 pandemic. There were £1.6bn worth of contracts awarded as a result of referrals from Conservative politicians. No other political party successfully referred companies through this fast tracked route.
A report by the National Audit Office last year found that firms referred through the VIP lane had a 10 times greater success rate for securing contracts than companies whose bids were processed through normal channels.3