Former landlord of Hancock’s local pub awarded key contract

THE former landlord of Matt Hancock’s local pub won a contract to supply tens of millions of Covid tests to the NHS after sending him a personal WhatsApp message offering his services, it has been reported.

Alex Bourne owns a company which is supplying the health service with two million test tubes a week, despite never having manufactured medical supplies before.

Mr Bourne got to know the Health Secretary while running The Cock in Little Thurlow, Suffolk, a few hundred yards from the MP’s constituency home.

He later set up Hinpack, a packaging maker, and Mr Bourne said he offered his services to Mr Hancock several months ago by messaging him.

Hinpack now supplies the test tubes to a distributor contracted by the NHS, as well as around 500,000 plastic funnels.

The Government has been accused of cronyism over its £18billion rush to source PPE and other equipment during the Covid crisis, with lucrative contracts handed to companies with no experience in the sector. Yesterday Mr Bourne admitted to exchanging personal WhatsApp messages with Mr Hancock but denied his connection helped win the contract. He said Hinpack had retooled to meet urgent demand.

The ex-Army officer ran The Cock until the end of 017, The Guardian reported.

Mr Hancock was a supporter of the pub, attending its reopening after a refurbishment in 016 and nominating it for an award a year later. Mr Bourne moved away in 018.

He said Mr Hancock – ‘not a friend, he’s an acquaintance’ – responded to his WhatsApp by directing him to the Department of Health website where he could fill out a form.

The Department of Health said ministers ‘ are not involved in procurement decisions or contract management and to suggest otherwise is wholly inaccurate’.