Matt Hancock told his team to go "hell for leather" at a contract with a Covid testing firm, despite officials' concerns it would not appear "legit," according to emails revealed in the High Court.
York-based Abingdon Health was handed tens of millions of pounds worth of contracts to develop antibody tests.
And under emergency Covid laws, the deal was awarded without competition.
The firm was said to be “on the brink” in 2019 - with losses of £1.5 million. A year later they floated on the AIM small firms stock market, raising £22m from investors.
The Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) went to court today, to defend the decision in the face of a legal challenge from the Good Law Project.
And it was revealed that the senior civil servant responsible for the antibody testing team was concerned that competitors “might complain” of the firm being given preferential treatment.
A spokesperson for Matt Hancock said: "What this case shows is a large number of people working incredibly hard to expand testing to save lives in unprecedented circumstances. Nothing more, nothing less."
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “Our engagement with Abingdon Health was led by officials - not Ministers or MPs.”
In an email presented in court, the department’s Chief Commercial Officer asked the accounting officer at the Department of Health to “have a quiet word with [Health Minister, Lord] Bethell and explain to him that we could make this all a lot more legit if we just took two days to do a public call-to-arms to ‘flush out’ any other companies who might be able to play a role in this space, and remove the criticism that we haven’t given everyone a fair chance?”.
They said they had spoken to another, unnamed, official who was "feeling caught between a rock and a hard place, mostly because of the incessant pressure of the Minister!"
A further email showed the department’s Chief Commercial Director raise concerns that civil servants were being told “don’t be bothering with [Treasury] and rules, just buy the stuff and if it’s no good we’ll sort it out later.”
Another official said in an email that the hasty handing of the contract to Abingdon was “no way to do business, but we are in exceptional times.”
Gemma Abbott, Legal Director of Good Law Project said: “Our legal action has uncovered a secret VIP process for testing contracts, revealed persistent use of secretive back channels for important Government business, and exposed a shocking waste of public money on Covid tests that weren't fit for purpose.
"Over the life of the case, Ministers have struggled to get their story straight, but it's clear to us now why they have been so backward in coming forward. Has there ever been a Government so allergic to accountability?”
The court case is set to run until Thursday.
