Good Law Project reveals more dodgy COVID deals

The Good Law Project had to go to court to force the government to reveal details of some of the contracts rushed through during the COVID crisis. These contracts were awarded to companies with connections to the Conservative Party or via intermediaries with these connection and were for hundreds of millions of pounds.

Examples include:

• P14 Medical, run by a Tory councillor and donor, was awarded £276 million in PPE contracts.
• Luxe Lifestyle was awarded a £26 million contract despite appearing to be insolvent without any employees.
• And Clandeboye Agencies whose registered trade on Companies House is "wholesale of sugar, chocolate and sugar confectionery" was awarded £108m in PPE contracts. We should say that the Government says Clandeboye was not in the VIP lane - but its own internal documents tell a different story.

  These four are in addition to Ayanda, which enjoyed a £252 million deal negotiated by Liz Truss adviser Andrew Mills. And Pestfix which won approximately £350 million in contracts despite being described by Government as a company "which specialises in pest control products that was dormant in 2018". There remain a further 41 firms yet to be revealed.

  Good Law Project can also reveal that of the nine contracts the subject of the judicial review - one with Ayanda, two with Clandeboye and six with Pestfix - five or possibly six of them have failed in the sense that some or all of the PPE provided under them has proved unfit for its intended purpose. Hundreds and hundreds of millions of pounds - spent with these three suppliers alone - have been wasted. It is inconceivable that this is the only waste. Moreover, the documents disclose that Pestfix and Matt Hancock are "in legal dispute".