Mapping the Pandemic: £2 Billion in Contracts Awarded to Conservative Associates

Since the beginning of the Coronavirus pandemic, 15 individuals with strong connections to the Conservative Party, parliamentarians or Government representatives have been linked to companies awarded more than £2 billion in COVID-related contracts, Byline Times and The Citizens can reveal. 

On Monday, our ongoing investigation revealed that contracts worth almost £1 billion had been awarded to firms with links to Conservative Party donors.

Today, we can report that 15 firms with non-financial ties to the Conservative Party and the Government have been awarded a further 29 COVID-19 deals, worth £2.07 billion. Of these contracts, 87% were published after the 30-day limit that is required of the Government, while 53% of the £2 billion total was awarded using emergency procurement procedures. 

Byline Times and The Citizens exclusively revealed contracts awarded to firms linked to six of the 15 individuals mentioned below.

Combining the contracts awarded to Conservative Party donors and associates, the total amount surpasses £3 billion – some 11.4% of the Government’s total spend on COVID-19 contracts.

Early in the pandemic, the Government triggered a loophole in EU law that would allow contracts to be awarded without competition in the event of an emergency. This would trigger what the spending watchdog, the National Audit Office (NAO), last November estimated to be some £10 billion in contracts awarded under these terms.

In addition to this, a ‘VIP fast-lane’ was created to funnel companies recommended by MPs, ministers and officials towards public sector contracts. VIP suppliers were 10 times more likely to win a contract than other firms, according to the NAO, yet the Government failed to extensively track any potential conflicts of interest.

“The amount we have borrowed [during the pandemic] is only comparable to the amount we borrowed during the two world wars,” Chancellor Rishi Sunak said in his 2021 Budget – referring to the vast sums spent by the Government over the past year.

The Government awarded contracts to associates and political allies – whether actively or merely coincidentally. There is no suggestion that the companies have engaged in any wrongdoing or that they were unable to carry out the work. Indeed, they were merely taking advantage of the opportunities presented by the market. This is public money, and it is the Government’s responsibility – as stipulated in the Ministerial Code – to avoid both reasonably perceived and real conflicts of interest.

It is therefore concerning that Byline Times and The Citizens have found links between COVID-19 contracts and firms connected to members of the House of Lords, current MPs, former political aides, current Government advisors and people closely associated with the Prime Minister’s former chief advisor Dominic Cummings and the Vote Leave campaign. 

All of the companies mentioned in this investigation have been approached for comment.

---

Lords

Health and Social Care Secretary Matt Hancock has been the face of the Government’s emergency effort to procure personal protective equipment (PPE) during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, several other health and procurement officials also took a lead behind the scenes – not least PPE ‘Tsar’ Lord Paul Deighton.

As reported by Byline Times, a close business associate of Lord Deighton was awarded a £300,620 contract in August for the supply of human resources (HR) to the Tsar’s department. 

Jean Tomlin, majority owner of Chanzo Limited, which won the contract, has worked closely with Lord Deighton for several years. The pair are both directors of Hakluyt & Company, a “strategic advisory” firm based in London. Lord Deighton sits as chairman of the company while Tomlin has held a non-executive director role since 2018. During the 2012 London Olympics, Lord Deighton was appointed CEO of the organising committee and Tomlin served as director of HR.

Lord Deighton is not the only peer-turned-official linked to contract awards. Health Services Laboratories (HSL) Pathology LLP received a £38 million contract in September 2020 for the provision of testing equipment under emergency procurement conditions. The Department of Health and Social Care’s (DHSC) Health and Procurement advisor, Labour peer Lord Patrick Carter of Coles, is the chairman of HSL Pathology LLP.

There is no evidence to suggest that either Lord Deighton or Lord Carter used their influence within Government to secure contracts for favoured firms. However, the deals raise conflict of interest concerns.

Another benefactor has been PPE Medpro. As we first revealed last September, the firm was awarded £200 million for the supply of gowns – just 44 days after the company had been incorporated. The PPE Medpro website states that it is “a specialist manufacturer” of PPE and that its founders have extensive business experience. Indeed, two of its directors have worked for Knox House Trust, a tax advisory and wealth management firm run by the businessman Douglas Barrowman. 

Barrowman is married to Conservative peer Baroness Michelle Mone, while one of the PPE Medpro directors previously managed her “personal brand” as the registered secretary for her company MGM Media. 

PPE Medpro said that Baroness Mone has “no function or role” within the company and that it was selected as a Government supplier due to the company’s “ability to deliver the requested products reliably, on time and at very competitive prices, based on the very considerable combined experience of the team”.

---

Commons

In addition to the House of Lords, several Members of the House of Commons have been linked to contract-winning firms.

Investment firm Ayanda Capital won a £253 million contract for the supply of PPE in July 2020. That deal was brokered by Andrew Mills – who sat as an unpaid advisor on the Board of Trade, chaired by International Trade Secretary Liz Truss. 

As the NAO detailed in November 2020, officials did not record a potential conflict of interest when awarding this contract. Mills told ITV News that the DHSC was “from the outset” aware of his role on the Board of Trade.

In addition, a firm called Luxe Lifestyle – which won a £26 million contract for the supply of PPE – also has links to Ayanda, via one of its directors. As we reported in July 2020, Luxe does not publicly list any employees or trading history.

Contract links also extend all the way to Matt Hancock himself. Derek Johnston, the chairman of EMS Healthcare, a company awarded a £5.5 million contract for COVID-19 mobile testing units, is a former business partner of Shirley and Robert Carter – Hancock’s mother and stepfather. Johnston and Hancock’s stepfather, Robert Carter, were also one-time mutual directors at GB Mailing Systems.

Meanwhile, it has been reported that one of the largest logistics suppliers during the pandemic, Uniserve, has ties to a pro-Brexit lobbying group. The company’s owner, Iain Liddell, has contributed to Prosperity UK, the mission of which was to “[come] together to make Brexit a success”.

It was later reported by the Huffington Post that other members of the group included senior Cabinet ministers Rishi Sunak and Michael Gove, though there is no evidence to suggest that Liddell met with them. Uniserve has been awarded contracts worth £777 million without competitive tender.

“Mr Liddell does not have any relationships with Government ministers or the Conservative Party,” a company spokesperson told Byline Times. “Uniserve did not actively sell our procurement services to the DHSC: the Government’s PPE procurement team approached us because of our unique capabilities, our expertise, and our proven track record.

“It is our understanding that the DHSC asked a number of suppliers for urgent support at the height of the PPE crisis, including major international logistics companies. Uniserve was the only one who said we could get the job done, and we have not failed to deliver on any of our commitments. We are immensely proud of the work that Uniserve has done, and continues to do, to get PPE to our frontline staff.”

One firm with incontrovertible links to the Conservative Party, however, is P14 Medical. The medical equipment company, owned by former Conservative councillor Steve Dechan, has been awarded £276 million in Government contracts during the pandemic. Dechan resigned as a Conservative councillor last August due to media scrutiny over the contracts, but has subsequently donated several thousand pounds to the party.

“We’ve absolutely done this on merit,” Dechan told The Times. “We’ve sent things by plane, by train, by ship. We’re delivered everything we were asked to deliver.”

“We’re done very, very well out of the pandemic,” the former Conservative councillor has also observed, with The Times further reporting that Dechan has recently bought a £1.5 million, 17th Century Cotswolds mansion with 100 acres of land.

---

Chummings

The onset of the novel Coronavirus demanded an intense research effort from the Government, along with communications strategies to inform the public.

Several of the firms which have benefitted from this effort are linked to Conservative and pro-Brexit political campaigns.

As we revealed in July 2020, the Kiwi-run advertising firm Topham Guerin, which oversaw the Conservative Party’s social media operation during the 2019 General Election campaign, was awarded a £3 million contract to handle digital communications during the pandemic.

Public First, a policy and polling firm run by James Frayne and Rache