PM ‘proud’ of PPE contracts despite claim of cronyism
BORIS JOHNSON insists he is ‘ very proud’ to have spent £12billion on PPE amid claims that Tory Party ‘ chums’ made fortunes as contracts were rushed through to secure supplies.
He has defended the way the government bought equipment early in the pandemic after No.10 was accused of handling the procurement of PPE ‘like a gold rush in the Wild West’.
The premier has come under fire after a National Audit Office (NAO) probe found one go-between was paid £21million of public money to manage a contract agreed with a US jewellery firm.
At prime minister’s questions yesterday, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said that one payment would have funded footballer Marcus Rashford’s campaign ‘for free school meals for kids over half-term’. ‘ Does the prime minister think £21million for a middleman was an acceptable use of taxpayers’ money?’ he asked.
Mr Johnson (pictured), who dubbed his opponent ‘Captain Hindsight’, said: ‘We shifted heaven and earth to get 32billion items of PPE. I’m very proud of what’s been achieved.’
Their exchange came after the financial watchdog examined more than £18billion of emergency coronavirus spending and found firms were ten times more likely to win contracts if they were recommended by ministers, their officials, MPs or Lords.
Among contracts singled out were £840,000 for a firm run by the woman who co-wrote the Tory party manifesto, and £150million for a company linked to a Department of International Trade adviser that later delivered 50million unusable face masks.
It has also emerged ex-Tory Party chairman Lord Feldman was recruited by science firm Oxford Nanopore, which won a £28million contract after he sat in on a company meeting with health secretary Matt Hancock.
The NAO is investigating after finding that 144 of the successful contracts followed referrals from the private offices of ministers, and that fewer than half the deals have been published on the government website.
Dr Chaand Nagpaul, of the British Medical Association, said the hunt for PPE was ‘totally mismanaged’, adding: ‘Deals are being left unscrutinised and, as a result, taxpayer money is pouring out of the treasury while the NHS – which is in desperate need of investment – is ignored.’