MP faces call to step down over lobbying NHS chief on behalf of recruitment agency

THE chairman of the Commons health select committee lobbied the head of the NHS on behalf of a firm paying him a consultancy fee of £1,600 a month,

The Daily Telegraph can reveal. Steve Brine, a former health minister, told Michael Gove he had been “trying for months” to convince the NHS to hire anaesthetists through Remedium, a recruitment company he worked for.

A Whatsapp message shows Mr Brine contacted Simon Stevens, then chief executive of NHS England, to suggest he use the company, in an apparent breach of two lobbying rules.

The message, which was forwarded to Matt Hancock by Mr Gove on Feb 2, 2021, said: “Dear Michael ... sorry to raise this but having tried the Dept of Health (seemed logical) and the Chief Exec of NHSE (ditto) I am at a loss.

“Long story short, I have been trying for months to help the NHS through a company I am connected with – called “Remedium”. They have 50 anaesthetists right now who can be in the country and on the ground in the NHS if someone only said let’s us help. They just want to assist and asked me how they might. How might I progress this or does the NHS just not need the help?”

The letter was dated six months and 15 days after his last payment from Remedium, which placed him outside the restricted lobbying period for MPS.

However, in July 2020, the firm then began paying him £1,600 for eight hours’ work each month – an arrangement that continued until the end of December 2021.

The latest revelations from the Whatsapp message show Mr Brine claimed he had spent “months” trying to persuade both the Department of Health and Lord Stevens that they should use Remedium to hire anaesthetists.

Mr Brine has since been elected chairman of the health and social care select committee in Parliament.

Under the first lobbying rule former ministers are banned from using contacts from their time in government to lobby for two years after they return to the backbenches.

Under the second rule MPS are not allowed to lobby for an organisation from which they are receiving “a reward” for six months after receiving a payment.

Separate messages between Mr Hancock and his team show that Mr Brine’s request was passed to NHS England via Allan Nixon, the health secretary’s special adviser.

Appearing to complain about the volume of requests Mr Brine had sent to the Department of Health, Mr Nixon wrote: “Steve’s being a nob right now and I’ve no idea why.

“Been chasing my tail trying to sort loads of stuff for him (not least his hospital) and he still acts like this.”

Mr Brine told The Telegraph: “This was about responding to an urgent public call from ministers and the NHS in a national crisis even if, ultimately, it led nowhere let alone secure any business for Remedium.”

Daisy Cooper, the Lib Dem health spokesman, said Mr Brine should resign from the committee pending an inquiry.