This rigorous look at the Tories’ ‘VIP lane’ for PPE suppliers during Covid raises questions about the motivations of those involved – ones that are almost too disgusting to contemplate
‘I
t is,” says one contributor to The Covid Contracts: Follow the Money, “probably the biggest misspending scandal in the UK of all time.” When a documentary tries to bring an underreported outrage to a wider audience, it helps to have attention-grabbing quotes like that. But as the evidence about the Covid “VIP lane” affair is collated by this cool, clear investigation, “biggest misspending scandal of all time” starts to look like an understatement.
When the Covid-19 pandemic hit the UK in the early months of 2020, doctors and nurses urgently required large amounts of personal protective equipment (PPE): the disposable masks, goggles and gowns that would allow them to treat an infectious disease without contracting it themselves. Our impoverished NHS did not own adequate stockpiles of PPE, so the Conservative government of the day set about buying it in. It appealed for companies that were not part of the regular NHS supply chain to pitch their services.
So far, so good. But the UK also set up something that neighbouring countries didn’t have: a VIP lane. Applications that were recommended or passed on by persons deemed to be important – often senior Conservative party politicians – were given special treatment. This film cites internal emails stating that “[the] VIP route is for MPs who can make life painful and shout loudly”, and that such inquiries were to be funnelled to an inbox named “Covid-PPE-priority-appraisals”. As a leaked briefing document put it: “Opportunities from high-profile people require a rapid response.”
