THE Home Secretary faces questions over the ministerial code after leaked documents revealed she pressed ministers to give a £28.8 million PPE contract to a firm represented by her former adviser.
Priti Patel had tried to secure a separate deal for the same company, Pharmaceuticals Direct Limited (PDL), days prior. Six days after she contacted those in charge of procurement to tell them what the firm had to offer, PDL landed the previously unreported multi-million-pound deal for surgical masks.
A former unpaid adviser to Patel and councillor in Kent, Samir Jassal now describes himself as a “healthcare and pharmaceutical partner”. He had a key role in negotiating for PDL.
Patel has insisted she has done nothing wrong and her spokesperson said suggestions she has are “false”.
READ MORE: Priti Patel accused of 'glaring' breach of ministerial code in PPE lobbying row
In April 2020 PDL attempted to secure a £20m deal for masks, but failed as Matt Hancock said they weren’t suitable for the NHS. Jassal turned to Patel for assistance and on May 3 she passed PDL’s concerns onto Michael Gove.
New documents show on May 14 the company’s sales chief Surbjit Shergill wrote to Patel saying “as a result of your intervention” PDL is “now in a position to offer another product which may help to mitigate our losses”.
Later that day Patel responded, saying she understood the “frustration”. She added: “The Cabinet Office is involved in cross-government procurement and I have drawn to their attention your email and the products you can source. I have also forwarded the email to the Secretary of State for Transport for his department to consider.”
On May 21 PDL successfully secured the contract to supply masks at a price 12.5% above the UK Government’s recommended benchmark.
Later in the pandemic PDL secured another no-competition contract for masks worth £102.6m.
Angela Rayner, Labour’s shadow Cabinet Office minister, has previously written to the Cabinet Secretary over the first unsuccessful contract. She will now write to Simon Case again, and told the Daily Mail he “must investigate”.
“If there is any truth to these revelations then the Prime Minister should refer them to the independent adviser on ministerial interests,” she said.
READ MORE: UK Cabinet Office contacts and 'VIPs' handed bumper PPE deals, leak reveals
Jolyon Maugham QC, the executive director of the Good Law Project, commented: “For this whole pandemic the Government's line has been that ministers weren't involved in procurement decisions. These leaked emails expose that line as fiction.
“Indeed, they suggest ministers weren't merely involved – they may well have been directing those decisions.”
Patel’s spokesperson said allegations about “improper intervention in the procurement process are false”.
He went on: “The Home Secretary rightly followed up representations made to her about the vital supply of PPE. During a time of national crisis failure to do so would have been a dereliction of duty. Ministers have no involvement in the procurement process.”
PDL has previously said its contractual obligations were met in full.
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