Tory MP Liam Fox has hit out at a report regarding a £20,000 donation from a Covid firm he recommended to the government during the pandemic, calling it a “baseless smear”.
In an email seen by the BBC and Sky News, sent by Fox to the then health secretary Matt Hancock and dated 22 June 2020, the MP recommends the Derbyshire-based firm SureScreen Diagnostics.
Sky News reported that in the email, Fox said SureScreen Diagnostics was “exporting huge numbers of antibody tests” to Germany, Spain and Sweden, and had “performed extremely well in internationally conducted trials”.
Fox also included an email to him from the firm’s director, David Campbell, which appealed to “proceed with government approval in the UK”.
The MP then added: “Would it be possible to send this on to PHE [Public Health England] and ask them to be in touch with the company.
“As we enter the next phase, I don’t think the British people would understand or approve of the widespread export of this capability when we will have a huge need at home.”
Seven months later, SureScreen was awarded a £500m contract by the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) to supply a different test, which shows a current infection.
It is not clear if this was the result of Fox’s email.
In July 2022, Fox declared in the register of members’ interests a donation of £20,000 the previous month (June 2022) from SureScreen.
Fox’s email was obtained by the Good Law Project after a freedom of information request, first reported by the BBC.
A spokesperson for Fox said: “This is a baseless smear concocted by the political activist Jolyon Maugham and the Good Law Project [of which Maugham is executive director]. It is appalling that this should be propagated by the BBC.”
The Tory MP would be making a formal complaint to the BBC and was “taking legal advice on the matter”, the spokesperson added.
Maugham told the BBC: “How many times do corporates need to give money to Tory MPs after getting help winning vast public contracts before concluding we have a cash for contracts problem.
“We know perfectly well what we’d call conduct like this if we saw it happening in another country.”
SureScreen said it was not aware that Fox had been in touch with Hancock in 2020 until this was relayed to the company by the BBC.
A SureScreen spokesperson told the BBC: “The donation to Dr Fox’s office – not Dr Fox personally – was made by one of the directors of the business. This donation was specifically to support a series of events which include education talks from expert guests.
“The payment is not connected in any way to lobbying.”
A spokesperson for Hancock denied any wrongdoing, adding that Hancock was not responsible for signing off any contracts when health secretary.
“All DHSC [health department] contracts are decided, priced and signed off by the civil service, who are independent of Mr Hancock,” the spokesperson said.
“If Mr Hancock received an email about expanding testing, of course he would have acted on it irrespective of the source. Not to do so would have been completely irresponsible.
“Remember, what was happening at the time was a national effort to expand testing, and all this uncovers is people working together to save lives.”
Hancock resigned as health secretary in June 2021.
A spokesperson for the DHSC said: “All testing suppliers – including SureScreen Diagnostics – were evaluated before contracts were awarded, in line with stringent procurement regulations and transparency guidelines.”
