A TOP British mandarin has U-turned on an admission that the UK chose not to participate in an EU ventilator scheme for political reasons.
Permanent Under-Secretary at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Head of the Diplomatic Service, Sir Simon McDonald, made the claim in front of the Foreign Affairs Committee earlier on Tuesday.
After being pressed for clarity on the reason why the Tory government chose not to participate, McDonald answered: “It was a political decision, the mission … to Brussels briefed ministers on what was available, what was on offer.”
However, following a denial from Health Secretary Matt Hancock that the reason was political, McDonald had written to the committee's chairman, Tom Tugendhat.
READ MORE: Matt Hancock denies failure to join EU scheme was political move
He wrote: I wanted to clarify a point I made regarding the committee's question about the EU ventilator procurement scheme – The Joint Procurement Agreement.
"Unfortunately, due to a misunderstanding, I inadvertently and wrongly told the committee that minister were briefed by UKMIS on the EU's Joint Procurement AGreement scheme and took a political decision not to participate in it.
We’ve just received this clarification from @SMcDonaldFCO after today’s @CommonsForeign hearing. pic.twitter.com/TuY9Wiid4J
— Tom Tugendhat (@TomTugendhat) April 21, 2020
"This is incorrect. Ministers were not briefed by our mission in Brussels about the scheme and a political decision was not taken on whether or not to participate."
McDonald added that the "facts of the situation" owe to a "communication problem".
Last week week it emerged that the UK Government missed three chances to sign up to the EU scheme and was also absent from key talks about future purchases, choosing to make its own arrangements, despite the EU invites.
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