'Inside track' How VIP contract introduced by Tory peer cost taxpayers £24m

They were the lucrative deals that epitomised the "VIP lane" set up by Boris Johnson's government during the pandemic, which gave priority for personal protective equipment (PPE) contracts to people with political connections.

- David Conn

Peter Gummer, a former PR boss who has been Tory peer Lord Chadlington since 1996, had smooth access at his fingertips. The erstwhile adviser to John Major has "close personal friendships with many senior Conservative party politicians", he has said, and as president of the Witney constituency association in the Cotswolds is "close friends" with its most notable MP: David Cameron.

When Covid reached Britain early in 2020, Chadlington was a director and shareholder of a firm registered in Jersey, majority-owned and run by David Sumner, a serial entrepreneur then based in Dubai. During the first lockdown, Chadlington embarked on an effort to introduce a Sumner company to supply PPE. He contacted Cameron first, texting him at 7.13am on 19 April 2020. Cameron texted back that his own close friend Andrew Feldman, whom he had appointed to the House of Lords, was working for the government on PPE procurement. Chadlington then texted Feldman, who said to get in touch on his new Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) email. By 8.04am, less than an hour after his initial text to Cameron, Chadlington was emailing Feldman, copying in Sumner, to make a direct introduction.

"David," Chadlington wrote, addressing Sumner. "This is my friend Andrew Feldman. He can help you with PPE we discussed this morning. Drop me off chain. Peter."

Sumner then sent Feldman an offer to supply PPE. Feldman forwarded it to civil servants operating the VIP lane, telling them: "An interesting offer from David Sumner who was introduced to me by Lord Chadlington."

A week later, the DHSC awarded Sumner's UK firm - a small, loss-making healthcare staff agency, SG Recruitment - a £24m contract to supply coveralls. A month later the government gave the company a second contract, worth £26m, to supply hand sanitiser.