Lords standards watchdog investigates Tory peer over ‘VIP’ PPE contracts | Peter Selwyn Gummer, Lord Chadlington, was a director of a group that owned a firm that won £50m of Covid contracts
Lords standards watchdog investigates Tory peer over ‘VIP’ PPE contracts | Peter Selwyn Gummer, Lord Chadlington, was a director of a group that owned a firm that won £50m of Covid contracts
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Tory Peer Gummer
> recommended to the government a company that was part of a group in which he was a director and shareholder.
Other Tory peer, Lord Feldman
> referred SG Recruitment to the “VIP lane” for politically connected companies, and it was awarded two PPE contracts.
Gummer’s company, SG Recruitment
> was a small company before the pandemic, which worked to recruit nurses and other healthcare professionals to the NHS. The award of £50m of PPE contracts appears to have transformed its financial fortunes; in the year to 31 March 2020 the company turned over less than £500,000
> An analysis by the National Audit Office found that companies referred to the VIP lane, after a recommendation by MPs, peers, ministers or health officials, had a 10 times greater success rate for being awarded contracts than those without VIP treatment. Following a challenge by the Good Law Project, the VIP lane was [ruled unlawful in January](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/jan/12/use-of-vip-lane-to-award-covid-ppe-contracts-unlawful-high-court-rules), because it meant companies did not receive equal treatment by the government.
Stinks.
I hope that all those contracts will be examined with a fine comb once the con-servatives are out of power.
I’m sorry but Lord Chadlington just sounds like a bloody meme character. Anyone remember the little rage guy stickman with a monocle, tache and snobby face? Him.
The Govt should just tax us and give these guys the cash, no point faffing around with PPE contracts and whatnot