Former Conservative minister Dr Liam Fox strongly denies any wrongdoing after revealing his office received a £20,000 donation earlier this year from a Covid-19 testing company that advised governments during the Did pandemic. .
Dr Fox did indeed recommend Covid testing firm SureScreen Diagnostics to then Health Secretary Matt Hancock in 2020, according to emails seen by the BBC and the Good Law Project legal group.
In a letter obtained by the Good Law Project through a freedom of information request, directors of the Derbyshire-based company first emailed Fox in June 2020, stating that the company had signed up for its use in hospitals in Germany and Spain. was doing millions of antibody tests. and sweden
They said it was “strange” that the test could not be used in the UK because it had not been approved by Public Health UK.
Mr. Fox then emailed Mr. Hancock telling the then Health Secretary:
It is unclear what role Dr. Fox’s involvement played in the process, but seven months later SureScreen Diagnostics won a £500m testing contract without competition from the Department of Health and Human Services.
The company later reported a record profit of £67.2 million for the year to May 2021. This is 75 times more than the previous year.
A £20,000 donation to former Defense Secretary Dr Fox is listed on the MPs Register of Interest and is recorded as having been received in June 2022.
SureScreen denied paying any government ministers to lobby, saying the fees were paid to Dr. Fox’s office and not directly to members of parliament.
The Good Law Project, which has repeatedly sued the government for using emergency powers to give companies non-compete obligations, said the donation raised questions.
Its CEO, Jolyon Maugham, said:
We know perfectly well what we call that behavior if we see it happening in other countries.
A spokesman for Dr. Fox called the story “a baseless smear created by political activist Jolyon Maugham and the Good Law Project. It’s appalling that this has to be promoted by the BBC.”
The spokesman also confirmed that Dr Fox has lodged a formal complaint with the BBC and is “obtaining legal advice on the matter”.
A spokesman for Matt Hancock, who will step down as health secretary in June 2021, strongly denied any breach of contract.
They told the BBC that all the contracts were signed individually by civil servants and that Mr Hancock had received an email about the extent of the tests.
“What was happening at the time was a national effort to expand testing, and it all shows that people are working together to save lives.”
The Department of Health and Human Services said:
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Source: Metro
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