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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
National
Matthew Weaver

Covid inquiry: ex-minister defends VIP contract lane despite ‘one or two crooks’

Lord Agnew in Downing Street, March 2020: he is walking in front of a black door and wears a grey suit and red tie.
Lord Agnew, a Cabinet Office minister responsible for procurement: ‘I really struggle to understand why [the VIP lane] is such a point of obsession.’ Photograph: PjrNews/Alamy

A former minister behind the controversial VIP lane for supplying personal protective equipment during the pandemic said “some crooks” were probably awarded contracts, but defended the scheme as necessary to plug shortages.

Lord Agnew, who was a Cabinet Office minister responsible for procurement during the pandemic, accused the Covid inquiry of having a “misconceived obsession with the high-priority lane”.

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