Sign up Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy noticeA close aide to the Health Secretary was one of the main routes for Tory-connected firms to win NHS contracts to supply emergency Covid equipment. Jonathan Marron, director general of the Department of Health, was “working to Matt Hancock”, according to court documents. Cabinet Office Minister Lord Theodore Agnew and Health Minister Lord Nicholas Bethell were also among the main routes for fast-tracking bids from political contacts, the High Court heard last week. Now, a judge has ordered Mr Hancock to reveal the identities of other ministers and Whitehall figures involved in the “VIP channel”, whose names were censored from documents presented by his defence team. Mr Hancock – who supped a pint in Middlesbrough while campaigning for mayoral elections on Friday – claims the VIP channel was legal as they desperately hunted for kit.

Source: Daily Mirror May 01, 2021 21:33 UTC