[Politics] PPE contracts

[Simster]

It’s the gift that keeps on giving.

So in a nutshell, a small company with no experience in PPE, that was introduced via the ‘VIP lane’ by a Tory peer, pocketed £20m+, failed to deliver, changed its name, and, on being sued, its offshore parent company conveniently went into liquidation.

Government likely to lose millions in dispute over PPE contract awarded via ‘VIP lane’

SG Recruitment UK allegedly failed to deliver on £20m-plus Covid contract awarded after Lord Chadlington introduction

www.theguardian.com

What going on with the Mone situation?

Yes yes but Starmer had a curry (when it was legal) so they're all as bad as each other aren't they.

 

[Weststander]

Sadly, I think all these new millionaires and billionaires got away with it. Take away the party politics, imho criminal and civil cases would collapse. This is theft in any moral person’s view.

There’s a mine of information on the underlying supply issues here.
https://www.audit-scotland.gov.uk/uploads/docs/report/2021/briefing_210617_ppe.pdf

Every nation was affected. PPE requirements went through the roof at the same time as factories closing for h&s reasons. Step forward glorified crooks. In Germany two politicians were caught taking backhanders in procurement.

What can be done in the future? It’d be a shocking waste and un-environmental to keep manufacturing 100m’s of bits of PPE, needing binning every few years, for a pandemic that might be next century.

I’d suggest that all politicians be taken out of PPE procurement for good, with no crisis override. Immediate public transparency on all deals. A contingency for manufacture here.

 

[WATFORD zero]

Sadly, I think all these new millionaires and billionaires got away with it. Take away the party politics, imho criminal and civil cases would collapse. This is theft in any moral person’s view.

There’s a mine of information on the underlying supply issues here.
https://www.audit-scotland.gov.uk/uploads/docs/report/2021/briefing_210617_ppe.pdf

Every nation was affected. PPE requirements went through the roof at the same time as factories closing for h&s reasons. Step forward glorified crooks. In Germany two politicians were caught taking backhanders in procurement.

What can be done in the future? It’d be a shocking waste and un-environmental to keep manufacturing 100m’s of bits of PPE, needing binning every few years, for a pandemic that might be next century.

I’d suggest that all politicians be taken out of PPE procurement for good, with no crisis override. Immediate public transparency on all deals. A contingency for manufacture here.

There's no doubt that procurement was difficult during that period, but given that the NHS has thousands of staff dedicated to this, procurement channels and contacts, processes for handling this, years of experience and knowledge of what was required, I really can't imagine why politicians would want to get so deeply involved and set up illegal 'fast track' programs.

At the time, it was questioned why the Government would have wanted to get so involved with the detail of procurement, track and trace etc when they had so much on their plate, you'll find it all in the Covid sub forum. I really can't imagine what they thought the benefits to the country would be, because that must be why they did it

And I don't see why politics should stand in the way of criminal and civil cases

 

[Baldseagull]

Sadly, I think all these new millionaires and billionaires got away with it. Take away the party politics, imho criminal and civil cases would collapse. This is theft in any moral person’s view.

There’s a mine of information on the underlying supply issues here.
https://www.audit-scotland.gov.uk/uploads/docs/report/2021/briefing_210617_ppe.pdf

Every nation was affected. PPE requirements went through the roof at the same time as factories closing for h&s reasons. Step forward glorified crooks. In Germany two politicians were caught taking backhanders in procurement.

What can be done in the future? It’d be a shocking waste and un-environmental to keep manufacturing 100m’s of bits of PPE, needing binning every few years, for a pandemic that might be next century.

I’d suggest that all politicians be taken out of PPE procurement for good, with no crisis override. Immediate public transparency on all deals. A contingency for manufacture here.

There were instances of UK manufacturers of some items contacting NHS buyers to tell them that French or German buyers were trying to place orders for their products, but that they did not want to leave themselves without the capacity to supply the NHS with whatever they required. NHS buyers told them that they only needed their normal supplies, central Government was providing all extra pandemic requirements. So those UK manufacturers supplied all their capacity to foreign buyers.

 

[Weststander]

There were instances of UK manufacturers of some items contacting NHS buyers to tell them that French or German buyers were trying to place orders for their products, but that they did not want to leave themselves without the capacity to supply the NHS with whatever they required. NHS buyers told them that they only needed their normal supplies, central Government was providing all extra pandemic requirements. So those UK manufacturers supplied all their capacity to foreign buyers.

It was a crazy time. Expanding on that I remember many keyboard humanitarians stating it was immoral that western Europe including us were sorting out our PPE needs first ahead of Africa. An argument later extended specifically to Oxford Astra Zeneca … how dare the UK have a comprehensive vaccine programme when much of Europe lags behind.

I digress, from the criminal profiteers and their politician chums.

 

[zefarelly]

Politicians should be barred from all business whilst serving, and justly remunerated for that service.

 

[dejavuatbtn]

It’s the gift that keeps on giving.

So in a nutshell, a small company with no experience in PPE, that was introduced via the ‘VIP lane’ by a Tory peer, pocketed £20m+, failed to deliver, changed its name, and, on being sued, its offshore parent company conveniently went into liquidation.

Government likely to lose millions in dispute over PPE contract awarded via ‘VIP lane’

SG Recruitment UK allegedly failed to deliver on £20m-plus Covid contract awarded after Lord Chadlington introduction

www.theguardian.com

What going on with the Mone situation?

Now of the rules stated that anyone (MP or peer) makes a recommendation that is accepted and subsequently proves to be a pig in a poke then that MP or Peer is held accountable.

 

[nicko31]

There were instances of UK manufacturers of some items contacting NHS buyers to tell them that French or German buyers were trying to place orders for their products, but that they did not want to leave themselves without the capacity to supply the NHS with whatever they required. NHS buyers told them that they only needed their normal supplies, central Government was providing all extra pandemic requirements. So those UK manufacturers supplied all their capacity to foreign buyers.

We still have the enquiry but I'm unconvinced anything will happen. No one will be held to account.

This will remain a stain on the Tories forever and will never be forgotten. They exploited despair to reward their cronies...

 

[nicko31]

We'll see you in court Michelle, let them be the judge, not a glossy documentary....

 

[CHAPPERS]

PPE bought via ‘VIP lane’ was on average 80% more expensive, documents reveal

Good Law Project finds items were priced up to four times higher by companies referred through scheme by UK ministers

www.theguardian.com

PPE was on average 80% more expensive when the government bought it from firms referred through a special “VIP lane” by Conservative ministers, MPs and officials, new information has revealed.

The Good Law Project, which has long been investigating PPE deals during the Covid pandemic, said internal government documents showed that the unit price paid for items under VIP lane contracts was up to four times higher than average.


The organisation highlighted one example as being the cost of PPE delivered by Meller Designs, a fashion company at the time co-owned by the Tory donor David Meller, which was referred through the VIP lane by Michael Gove’s office. Meller Designs was awarded six PPE supply contracts worth £164m during the coronavirus pandemic.

 

[nicko31]

PPE bought via ‘VIP lane’ was on average 80% more expensive, documents reveal

Good Law Project finds items were priced up to four times higher by companies referred through scheme by UK ministers

www.theguardian.com

What is incredible the government must have paid in advance to many of these companies. Many would have been in no positive to offer the standard 30 days terms.

I've done a number of public sector tenders and found payment is always prompt but NEVER in advance

 

[CHAPPERS]

Michelle Mone has £75m of assets frozen as NCA investigates fraud

Disgraced Tory peer and her husband have had restrictions placed on two properties and 15 bank accounts

www.theguardian.com

The disgraced Conservative peer Michelle Mone and her husband have reportedly had about £75m of assets frozen or restrained by a court order.

The pair face an investigation by the National Crime Agency into alleged medical equipment fraud. The Financial Times reported that the frozen assets included a six-bedroom central London townhouse, a country estate on the Isle of Man, and 15 accounts with Coutts, C Hoare & Co and Goldman Sachs International.

 

[nicko31]

Michelle Mone has £75m of assets frozen as NCA investigates fraud

Disgraced Tory peer and her husband have had restrictions placed on two properties and 15 bank accounts

www.theguardian.com

What about the others that ripped off the government? They spent £13.6BN around 70% was unusable, £10BN written off

Nearly £10bn written off value of PPE bought during COVID pandemic

Labour's shadow health secretary Wes Streeting said "Rishi Sunak threw away taxpayers' money as if it were confetti" when chancellor, but the government insisted the decision to try to secure PPE for frontline health and care workers "was right".

news.sky.com

 

[The Clamp]

What about the others that ripped off the government? They spent £13.6BN around 70% was unusable, £10BN written off

Nearly £10bn written off value of PPE bought during COVID pandemic

Labour's shadow health secretary Wes Streeting said "Rishi Sunak threw away taxpayers' money as if it were confetti" when chancellor, but the government insisted the decision to try to secure PPE for frontline health and care workers "was right".

news.sky.com

Ripped off the government? The government willingly handed OUR money over to them.

 

[nicko31]

Ripped off the government? The government willingly handed OUR money over to them.

The Mone deal is just over 1% of the total. This is the scandal of all scandals, just another bill put on the tab thanks to Tory corruption and incompetence.

People need to go to prison, something like this can never happen again

 

[Hotchilidog]

The Mone deal is just over 1% of the total. This is the scandal of all scandals, just another bill put on the tab thanks to Tory corruption and incompetence.

People need to go to prison, something like this can never happen again

People do need to go to prison and I believe that includes members of the government who more than played their part in this monumental fraud at a time of national crisis.

 

[The Clamp]

The Mone deal is just over 1% of the total. This is the scandal of all scandals, just another bill put on the tab thanks to Tory corruption and incompetence.

People need to go to prison, something like this can never happen again

It will always happen with a Tory government.

 

[nicko31]

People do need to go to prison and I believe that includes members of the government who more than played their part in this monumental fraud at a time of national crisis.

Fraud is one thing, but exploiting the situation in a time of national crisis for so many is beyond disgusting.

If only PPE was the only corruption out there, Freeports next. For so many power means nothing unless it involves enrichment for themselves and their mates

 

[rippleman]

Ripped off the government? The government willingly handed OUR money over to them.

Well yes, it was taxpayers money but it was money borrowed by slippery Sunak who was then so financially incompetent that he overlooked hedging against a rise in interest rates. So when the interest rates did go up, there was no mitigation.

So when the Tories tell you there are no funds in the coffers due to "the costs of borrowing", that is because the PM is a complete idiot.

(and of course there would be more money in the coffers if Sunak and Johnson hadn't given huge bungs to their besties through the VIP lane for crap, vastly over-priced PPE)

 

[beorhthelm]

Well yes, it was taxpayers money but it was money borrowed by slippery Sunak who was then so financially incompetent that he overlooked hedging against a rise in interest rates. So when the interest rates did go up, there was no mitigation.

So when the Tories tell you there are no funds in the coffers due to "the costs of borrowing", that is because the PM is a complete idiot.

(and of course there would be more money in the coffers if Sunak and Johnson hadn't given huge bungs to their besties through the VIP lane for crap, vastly over-priced PPE)

he couldn't hedge against rates as suggested. dropping £900bn of debt on the market would raise borrowing rates a great deal, and screws up the rest of the bond market. hence why no other country did anything similar. it was a fringe idea by a lone acedemic.