Michael Gove has been accused of falsely claiming all personal protective equipment (PPE) contracts for the NHS went through eight steps of vetting, as it emerged this did not happen with a deal for millions of unusable face masks linked to a Conservative adviser.

Rowena Mason www.theguardian.com

Angela Rayner, Labour’s deputy leader, said Gove and other ministers were “apparently lying to the public and lying to parliament” by claiming that “every single procurement decision went through an eight-stage process”.

She uncovered the fact that the much-vaunted eight-step process was not undertaken in the case of Ayanda Capital, which was awarded £252m of deals for PPE supplies in spring 2020. Face masks provided by Ayanda were ultimately unusable because the Department of Health and Social Care had specified masks with ear loops, despite the NHS requiring masks that looped over the head.

The process was also not followed in the case of PestFix, a pest control supplies company with net assets of £18,000 that was awarded a contract to supply PPE worth £350m to the NHS, some of which also did not meet the health service’s technical standards.

In answer to a parliamentary question, the health minister, Jo Churchill, said: “The eight-stage process to assess and approve offers of support to supply [PPE] evolved over a short period of time at the end of April 2020 to formalise the checks quickly put in place by the cross-government PPE procurement cell in March 2020.

“Contracts with Ayanda Capital and PestFix pre-dated the formalised eight-stage assurance process but these suppliers were evaluated by officials on financial standing, technical compliance and ability to perform the contract. The contracts are awarded by the appropriate departmental accounting officer in line with our terms and conditions.”

Internal documents released as part of a judicial review case revealed in May that Ayanda, a “family office” finance house in London, was awarded two PPE contracts for a total of £252m after being referred to the VIP lane for assessing deals because its representative, Andrew Mills, was an adviser to Liz Truss, the trade secretary.

Officials pushed for the contracts to be processed as quickly as possible, with one marking emails “URGENT VIP CASE” and “VERY URGENT VIP ESCALATION”, saying that if the deal did not happen: “Andrew will escalate as high as he can possibly go!”

The two contracts were approved on 30 April 2020, five days after Ayanda was put into the VIP lane, but before required financial checks had been carried out on the company, despite a Cabinet Office official raising “major issues or concerns” because of inadequate availability of public financial information and a “low” credit score.

Ayanda has consistently said it fulfilled the contract according to the specifications it was given.

Rayner, who is the shadow chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster, Gove’s opposite number, said:

“Why have Michael Gove and government ministers apparently been lying to the public and lying to parliament to try to cover this up? Michael Gove needs to explain why he has not been telling the truth.

“We need a fully independent investigation into the Tories’ VIP fast track for PPE and testing contracts to get to the bottom of who got the contracts, how they got them and what connections they have to Conservative ministers and the Conservative party.”

Jo Maugham QC, director of Good Law Project, which brought the legal challenge to the Pestfix and Ayanda contracts, said: “You begin to wonder if there are any statements from ministers that you can rely on. It looks like they’ve been infected by Johnsonism: total lack of interest in the truth.”

A government spokesperson said: “All PPE contracts went through a robust process of checks and controls led by officials. These contracts have delivered over 9bn items of PPE to protect frontline workers.”

The government is defending the judicial review over the PPE contracts, arguing the VIP route and the contracts awarded, including to PestFix, Ayanda and another company, were lawful and reasonable as the government tried to rapidly meet a serious shortfall of PPE at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.

A National Audit Office report in November said 144 referrals to the VIP lane had come from ministers’ private offices, but said of its investigation: “Ministers had properly declared their interests, and we found no evidence of their involvement in procurement decisions or contract management.”

Liz Pole, Labour’s spokesperson for Tiverton and Honiton constituency www.midweekherald.co.uk 

At 19 years old, he embodies the fresh start and the kinder, more community-oriented and visionary politics the public wants post-Covid. He has been a mover at a national level of a “new deal” approach to the greening of Britain’s economy, and has locally pioneered the Honiton Foodsave project, redirecting supermarket over-stock from going to waste towards those who need it.

A true Devonian, Jake has dispelled the idea that there are “no-go areas” for the Labour Party in Britain. On the doorstep, conversations were striking for the enthusiasm with which many residents were planning to vote Labour for the first time. Here was a candidate living and breathing community values and delivering on them, so here was the candidate Honiton was going to vote for. Although this is the first time in its history Honiton has turned to Labour, there was no sense of it being a political wrench to do so. The message is loud and clear that showing up and delivering on community values in our own neighbourhoods is the way to build a new hope, a new political consensus, a rejection of secret dealings, asset-stripping and sell-offs, and a new appetite for proper investment in our infrastructure and our communities.

Jake’s refreshing, proactive approach means where problems can be easily fixed, he is tackling them hands-on – literally taking a strimmer to the brambles and nettles blocking the walkway under the railway bridge at Streamers Meadows so residents can shop and go to school more easily.

Where solutions require more elbow grease to deliver, Jake is working strategically with community groups and across political divides to make sure Honiton gets its share. The focus is on the King Street loos, and the sport, leisure and youth facilities. But Jake’s approach will stand in good stead for future challenges. His integrity, and his accountable and transparent style of leadership, means an absolute commitment to represent all residents in Honiton St Michael’s irrespective of their age, politics or any other status.

Affordable housing and new council homes could be within reach for Axminster after a suitable parcel of land was identified this week.

Becca Gliddon eastdevonnews.co.uk

East Devon District Council (EDDC) said it ‘hopes’ to build ‘much-needed’ affordable and social housing on the former football pitch, in Millwey Rise, Axminster, after councillors on Wednesday (July 14) approved the use of the land.

Councillors this week recommended the land was reserved for council homes, affordable housing, and a new community centre.

An EDDC spokeswoman said: “Some years ago the land at Millwey Rise was returned to East Devon District Council and is now currently designated as land for council housing.

“At the authority’s cabinet meeting on Wednesday, 14 July, councillors approved a report recommending the land is reserved for much needed social and truly affordable housing development and a replacement community centre undertaken by the council.

“Councillors felt passionately that, in view of the desperate shortage of affordable housing in the district, they wanted to set the wheels in motion for the site to be used for its original intended purpose, at the earliest opportunity.”

She added: “There is currently a well-used and valued community centre, owned and managed by EDDC and allotments, on the site.

“This means any future use of the site will need to factor in considerations for the future provision of these essential community facilities and balance the need for housing against competing demands.”

EDDC said the report, which was in the form of a discussion document, was considered by the cabinet.

Councillors ‘recognised a range of planning constraints’ that would need to be overcome as part of any plans, EDDC said.

The district council spokeswoman said: “Although comments from the local community were gathered some years ago, on the original plans, these will need to be updated and addressed before any work can start on-site too.

“EDDC’s next step will be to produce a development brief and feasibility study for the site, consult and report back on options.

“The cabinet were clear that they wanted to optimise social housing and incorporate other community uses, as appropriate including retaining the existing amenities wherever possible.”

Would there be anyone left unshuffled? – Owl

By Arj Singh inews.co.uk

Tory MPs have urged Prime Minister Boris Johnson to carry out a Cabinet reshuffle next week to sack underperforming ministers and end the “paralysis” in Whitehall.

Several Conservatives, including some who are unlikely to be promoted, have told i the Prime Minister should change his team of ministers before Parliament goes into summer recess on Thursday.

The party is “looking for a reshuffle”, one said.

However, Mr Johnson is not expected to carry out a reshuffle before MPs leave Westminster for the summer, despite widespread speculation in the spring that a rejig was imminent.

One of the main reasons for making a change would be to remove “ministers that shouldn’t be ministers”, with some MPs fearing a repeat of the exam grades chaos of last summer under Education Secretary Gavin Williamson.

“The Government needs sharpening up and some of the ministers need sharpening up,” one experienced MP said.

“There are one or two that certainly should be moved or dropped, definitely.”

Another Tory said: “The education department has not shown itself in a particularly good light, it’s the one that’s messed up the most (during the Covid pandemic) and hasn’t actually come back with anything productive.”

But they speculated that Mr Johnson may hold fire until autumn or even spring 2022 to use ministers as a firebreak for any more Covid-related disasters.

Exam grades were “a complete fiasco”, the MP said.

“But maybe if it’s a complete fiasco again they can get rid of Gavin Williamson after blaming him for the mess.”

Health Minister Lord Bethell was also said to be in line for the chop having been caught up in the scandal that forced the resignation of his boss Matt Hancock as Health Secretary.

Some sources meanwhile blamed persistent briefings and rumours of a reshuffle in recent months for paralysing the Government.

In March, the PM’s then-press secretary Allegra Stratton even suggested to reporters that Mr Johnson would shake up the Cabinet in the coming months and promote more women.

There were further briefings and rumours around the time of the Hartlepool by-election in May.

One Whitehall source told i the situation has caused paralysis in Government departments for weeks.

Officials would begin preparing packs for new recruits, while filing away difficult decisions that they disagreed with their current minister on – in the hope that their successor would approve them, the source said.

MPs meanwhile see the effect on ministers, with one suggesting some have “given up completely and are just waiting to hear if they are staying, moving or being dumped”

“Everything awkward is now just stuck in the ‘leave it for next person’ tray,” one said. 

Another MP warned Mr Johnson it would be a “mistake” to delay a reshuffle, as appears likely.

“There’s too many people in the wrong jobs, there’s too many people looking to the next job, thinking they are going to move in three weeks’ time”, they said.

Some experienced ministers are also said to want a reshuffle now, fearing they could be “squeezed out” with a delay that would see more 2017 and 2019 intake MPs come into the frame as they gather experience.

But MPs were sceptical about the chances of any changes next week, with Johnson already having a mini-reshuffle forced on him by the departure from the Cabinet of Hancock for breaking Covid rules, to be replaced by Health Secretary Sajid Javid.

“I think the general attitude before was that Hancock was going to go in this reshuffle,” one of the MPs said.

“Brokenshire has also resigned for health reasons, so we’ve had a sort of piecemeal reshuffle that isn’t a reshuffle.

“There’s too much little stuff going on so there won’t be a big one, which I think will frustrate some people.

“There are some Cabinet members who frankly shouldn’t still be in place, but somehow manage to survive.”

Downing Street was approached for comment.