The Leeds businessman, who owns a healthcare tech firm responsible for 60m UK medical records, raised a complaint about procurement in December 2022 with the chairman of NHS England, copying in Steve Barclay, the then health secretary, saying he was an "interested party".
An NHS investigation, concluded in February 2023, found Hester's allegations about bias against his company were "unfounded". When Hester asked how he could escalate it further, he was told the complaint had "already been considered at the highest levels within NHS England".
He was also asked by Richard Meddings, the chairman of NHS England, to desist from repeating "manifestly false and defamatory" accusations about senior NHS officials.
The correspondence, released under freedom of information laws, raises questions about why Hester brought his complaint to the attention of the health secretary as well as the NHS on a matter of procurement.
Asked why he had copied Barclay into the email about procurement and whether he had wanted the health secretary to intervene in the complaint, Hester and his company, The Phoenix Partnership (TPP), did not respond to a request for comment. A source close to Barclay said he had not taken any action and had no involvement in the investigation.
Hester and TPP have given at least £10m to the Conservatives in the last year, which has made Hester the party's biggest ever donor.
He has been under the spotlight over comments about Diane Abbott, Britain's longest-serving black MP, which have been widely condemned for being racist and misogynistic.
This story is from the March 28, 2024 edition of The Guardian.
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This story is from the March 28, 2024 edition of The Guardian.
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