Matt Hancock’s old pub landlord gets £30m deal to supply tens of millions of Covid test tubes after WhatsApping him
MATT Hancock’s old pub landlord landed a £30million deal to supply the NHS with tens of millions of Covid test tubes after WhatsApping him.
Alex Bourne, 36, had no previous experience in making medical supplies, but got to know Mr Hancock while running the Cock Inn in Thurlow, Suffolk.
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Mr Hancock attended the boozer’s reopening after a refurbishment in 2016 and nominated it for an award a year later, The Guardian reports.
The Health Secretary also posted a photo of himself pulling a pint with Bourne on his parliamentary website near his constituency home, before he moved in 2018.
Yes, I sent Mr Hancock a WhatsApp message in the early stages of the pandemic about making PPE, then I got referred straight to the Department of Health website to offer my services.
Alex Bourne
Alex Bourne later set up Hinpack, a manufacturing company which produced plastic cups and takeaway boxes for the catering industry.
His company is now supplying about 2million medical grade vials a week to the government through a distributor contracted by the NHS in a deal wrth at least £30m, The Times reports.
Mr Bourne, who is Facebook friends with Hancock, admitted to exchanging personal WhatsApp messages with the health secretary but denied his connection helped win the mega bucks deal.
He said he sent a WhatsApp to Hancock’s mobile on March 30 offering his services after a nationwide call to manufacturers to respond to the pandemic.
He began the exchange by writing: “Hello, it’s Alex Bourne from Thurlow.”
The businessman said the health secretary directed him to the Department of Health and Social Care’s (DHSC) website where he could fill out a form detailing his company’s manufacturing capabilities.
Mr Bourne categorically denies he profited from his personal contact with Hancock.
‘HE’S AN AQUAINTANCE’
He told MailOnline: “Yes, I sent Mr Hancock a WhatsApp message in the early stages of the pandemic about making PPE, then I got referred straight to the Department of Health website to offer my services.
“We looked at PPE and decided we didn’t have the expertise to make it. But we could make test tubes, so we designed one from scratch and made it in response to a very urgent demand.
“We rang up the DHSC and we spoke to their purchasing managers very closely – he had no knowledge of those discussions.
“I know Matt Hancock, he’s not a friend, he’s an acquaintance. There’s no link between the contracts we received and him.”
A Suffolk local, Sukhvinder Dhat, however claimed Mr Hancock and Mr Bourne were “friends” – something the businessman has repeatedly denied.
Mr Dhat asked: “How does someone like [Bourne] get a contract to do something like this?
“I was in management consulting for decades and we had to show some sort of capability or at least a client reference to get business. Who knew him to say he was an appropriate person?”
While his company had no experience in providing medical supplies, Mr Bourne said many of his employees did.
He told the Mail Online: “As a legal entity we have never dealt with medical products, but members of our team have experience of manufacturing them and we brought in extra regulatory expertise.
“Our quality manager has 20 years’ experience in the sector.”
He added: “We are an experienced manufacturer who showed resourcefulness the time we as a nation were importing 90 per cent of consumables.
“I’m perfectly open because I know there’s nothing wrong and there’s no impropriety.
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“We see what we’ve done as a real success that is helping to bring manufacturing back to the UK.”
Asked whether Hinpack received special treatment as a result of Mr Bourne’s relationship with the health secretary, a DHSC spokesperson said: “There is no evidence to support these claims.
“As the National Audit Office report has made clear, ministers are not involved in procurement decisions or contract management and to suggest otherwise is wholly inaccurate.”