A Conservative peer introduced a company he was involved in to the government to supply PPE after he first contacted David Cameron by text message, the Covid-19 public inquiry has heard.
The inquiry is hearing evidence this week about the government’s multibillion-pound spending on medical supplies during the crisis, including its use of the “VIP lane”, which gave high priority to companies with political connections and awarded them £3.8bn PPE contracts.
The inquiry is considering two contracts worth £50m awarded to SG Recruitment to illustrate how the VIP lane worked. The first contract was awarded just one week after the Tory peer, Peter Gummer, whose peerage title is Lord Chadlington, approached Cameron. Chadlington was the chair and a shareholder in the parent company, Sumner Group Holdings (SGH), registered in Jersey.
Emails and messages published by the inquiry in a written submission showed that Cameron gave Chadlington the phone number for another Tory peer, Andrew Feldman, a close friend of the former prime minister’s, who was advising the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) on PPE procurement.
On the same day Chadlington texted Feldman, writing: “Andrew. I work with company with PPE. D says you are helping. Shall I put you in touch? Peter.” Feldman replied positively, and gave Chadlington his new DHSC email address.
Chadlington then sent an email introducing Feldman to David Sumner, the majority shareholder and chief executive of SGH, which was disclosed to the Guardian in response to a freedom of information request.
“David,” Chadlington wrote, addressing Sumner, copying them both in. “This is my friend Andrew Feldman. He can help you with PPE we discussed this morning. Drop me off chain. Peter.”
Sumner followed up by writing to Feldman offering to supply PPE, which Feldman forwarded to civil servants operating the “VIP lane”. Feldman told them it was: “An interesting offer from David Sumner, who was introduced to me by Lord Chadlington.”
The emails published this week by the Covid inquiry show that Sumner updated Chadlington, who replied with encouragement, telling Sumner on 21 April 2020: “Excellent. Looks like you have an inside track. Good luck.”
On 26 April 2020, Chadlington wrote to Sumner: “I should … talk to DC [David Cameron] and to Feldman – they’ve been batting for us on this and I want to say thanks for support.”
A week after Chadlington’s first approach to Cameron, the DHSC awarded SG Recruitment a contract for £23.9m, to supply coveralls. Then on 28 May 2020, the company was awarded a second contract, for £26.1m, to supply hand sanitiser.
When the second contract was signed, Sumner sent a WhatsApp message to Chadlington, saying: “Hand sanitizer contract in and signed! $135m of revenue under contract from DHSC for the two contracts!” Chadlington replied saying: “Great news,” and indicated this would boost the company’s share price.
The messages documenting Chadlington’s involvement were published in a written submission to the inquiry by the Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice, a group of 7,000 families whose relatives died of the coronavirus. The families’ barrister, Pete Weatherby KC, made severely critical remarks about the VIP lane.
Chadlington’s involvement was investigated by the House of Lords commissioner for standards in 2022 and 2023, after reporting by the Guardian.
Chadlington told the Lords commissioner in writing in August 2023: “I did not facilitate an introduction (I did not even name Mr Sumner or a company), and I did not seek to leverage my position as a member of the House of Lords. The extent of my involvement was to pass Lord Feldman’s email address to Mr Sumner.”
In his evidence to the commissioner, and in letters from his lawyers in response to questions from the Guardian, Chadlington did not say that he had sent an email to Sumner, that directly copied in Feldman, to introduce them. That email has only become public now.
The commissioner cleared Chadlington both times of breaking any rules that govern peers’ conduct.
In their submission, the bereaved Covid families said: “Members of the public are … entitled to form their own views as to whether the correspondence disclosed to the inquiry in relation to this contract is consistent with the accounts provided by Lord Chadlington elsewhere.”
In response to questions from the Guardian, Chadlington’s lawyers said: “Our client has been consistent in his communications to the House of Lords commissioner for standards and in this firm’s communications with you on his behalf. He provided Lord Feldman’s email address to Mr Sumner in his email of 19 April 2020. He did not endorse or in any way advocate on Mr Sumner’s behalf: he simply connected two people, and then removed himself from subsequent email exchanges.”
The Covid inquiry has not yet published in full Chadlington’s communications referred to in the bereaved families’ submissions, or a witness statement he has made.
A spokesperson for Lord Feldman confirmed that in April 2020 he had received Chadlington’s text and email, but said he did not recall any further communication. He denied “any suggestion that Lord Feldman was ‘batting for’ any particular supplier”. Cameron did not respond to an invitation to comment.
The government has said that it is in dispute with SG Recruitment over the non-fulfilment of one of the contracts. Despite the £50m PPE deals, in December 2023 the company, which had been renamed, was put into liquidation, owing unpaid taxes to HMRC. The parent company went into liquidation in October 2022. Chadlington had resigned as a director in April 2021.
The UK Anti-Corruption Coalition said in its evidence to the inquiry this week that it had found no other country that gave priority for Covid contracts to politically connected companies.
