A company that was referred to officials by Tory chairman Greg Hands received a contract worth £25.8million to make personal protection equipment (PPE). Luxe Lifestyle was given the contract during the coronavirus pandemic.
The Good Law Project obtained emails that showed Mr Hands was approached on his personal email account by Mark Higton on April 7, 2020, about a contact who was offering to supply PPR and ventilators. Mr Higton was a former chairman of the Hammersmith Conservatives.
Three days later Mr Hands, who was Chelsea and Fulham MP and trade minister at the time, passed the offer on to officials. Luxe Lifestyle was later awarded a contract to supply gowns and masks. Mr Hands had no role other than passing on the details of the company.
A spokeswoman for the Tory chairman said: “Minister Hands forwarded a message from someone who contacted him to the relevant officials. Minister Hands had no further role or involvement in the process, and was unaware of any outcome.”
However, a freedom of information request supplied to The Guardian found that nine million items supplied by Luxe Luxury - which were worth £20m - were labelled "do not supply". The labelling means they were not used. The contract is understood to be under review by the Government.
A spokesperson for Luxe Lifestyle told the Guardian: “Luxe Lifestyle’s contract to supply PPE was negotiated on an arm length basis through MoD procurement officers, seconded to the DHSC (Department of Health and Social Care). The company was awarded a single contract for two out of six products offered via a competitive process based on price and availability.
“No minister was ever directly contacted by the company and all products offered were uploaded on to the relevant DSHC PPE procurement website established by the Government at the time of the pandemic for review and assessment alongside other PPE providers.
“No-one at the company has ever contacted or spoken to Greg Hands.”
A Government spokesman said: “Ministers had no involvement in any procurement decisions. During the pandemic, potential suppliers often passed on offers of PPE to MPs, civil servants and ministers.
“These offers for support were passed to procurement teams for assessment.”
The deal with Luxe Lifestyle was not listed as being in the high-priority lane, the so-called “VIP lane” set up in April 2020 to follow up on potential offers of PPE supplies from government officials, ministers’ offices, parliamentarians, senior NHS staff and other health professionals, that were considered to be more credible than other offers.
