Covid cronyism: Inquiry finds Johnson government squandered £10bn in unusable PPE

Boris Johnson’s government wasted £10bn on unusable personal protective equipment (PPE), the Covid inquiry report has found. Inquiry chair Heather Hallett also slammed the then-Conservative government’s use of firms with Tory ‘VIP’ connections to fulfil major PPE contracts.

Focusing on the broader impact of Covid, the Guardian reported:

The most high-profile scandal of the VIP lane contracts was PPE Medpro, a newly formed company linked to the then Conservative peer Michelle Mone, which was awarded two contracts worth £203m after Mone first approached Michael Gove, the then Cabinet Office minister, in May 2020.

Hallett noted in her report:

“The ‘high priority lane’, also known as the ‘VIP lane’, was a misguided attempt to give priority to the most credible offers,” and that it “embedded unfairness” in the procurement.

“Some suppliers received favourable treatment because they had connections to government,” she found, “undermining public trust at a moment when it was needed most.”

‘VIP’ procurement lane

PPE procurement was rocked by scandals about waste and cronyism even during the global pandemic, which started in 2020 — and ushered in a series of Covid lockdowns.

Hallett said:

The UK entered the pandemic with an inadequate stockpile of PPE and plans that had never been stress-tested.

The waste of public money was vast and could have been avoided. Of approximately £14.9bn spent on PPE, nearly two-thirds – almost £10bn – was wasted.

The inquiry chair added of the so-called ‘high priority’ or ‘VIP’ procurement lane:

Although it was not intended, the system was inherently biased towards those with connections to the UK government. This heightened the risk of abuse.

Many essential medical staff suffered as they fought — and died — on the frontlines.

Hallett said:

As the pandemic worsened, many doctors, nurses and care sector staff worked without adequate PPE or sufficient healthcare equipment such as ventilators.

She added:

This left them unable to properly protect themselves, or those in their care, from dangerous infection.

Boris defends Covid scandal

In a public appearance in London on 14 July, ex-PM Boris Johnson defended his record:

It was a tough time and you know we sourced a lot of PPE very, very fast and I think if you asked people you know, what do you want? Do you want PPE fast and do you want as much of it as possible? They would have said yes.

She also said:

I think the response of the UK government, particularly in delivering the fastest vaccination programme in the world virtually, was outstanding. That’s my view and I don’t need an inquiry to tell you that.

Beyond being censured in the report, none of the Tory cronies who profited off the dark days of the pandemic have been held to account. What was true of Covid remains true of so much of British politics: cronyism rules, while the rest of us suffer.

Featured image via the Canary