Owen Paterson personally lobbied Matt Hancock on behalf of a Covid testing firm later handed £60m worth contracts, newly published text messages suggest.
The private messages, which emerged after a standards probe into Mr Paterson's lobbying for Randox, also show the MP asked Mr Hancock to "kill" news stories making claims about his involvement with the deal.
The Tory former MP, who was on test firm Randox's payroll as an consultant, was forced to quit last year over the lobbying scandal.
Randox was ultimately handed some £60m worth of Covid testing contracts - though the firm insist the deals fully complied with the correct procedures.
The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) was last night forced to publish 88 pages - many of which they had previously denied knowledge of.
They lay bare the chaos and disorganisation in the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) in the early months of the pandemic.
And they show Paterson repeatedly sent WhatsApp messages to Mr Hancock, then Health Secretary, promoting Randox and complaining that the process was moving too slowly.
In February 2020 Mr Paterson wrote: "There is absolutely no sense of urgency. In the meantime Randox kits are being flown to China this week. Exasperating! Nb I’m a consultant to Randox.”
And the following October, WhatsApped the then-health secretary: "In The Guardian yesterday yet again ran the story that you only gave Randox the testing contract because I am a paid consultant.
“If it comes up can you kill this once and for all as I know absolutely nothing about the contract?"
Mr Hancock replied: "Of course".
Mr Paterson was found in November to have lobbied the government on behalf of companies that were paying him more than £100,000.
But Boris Johnson stepped in, ordering a shake-up of the Commons standards process - and effectively blocking his 30 day suspension.
This sparked a furious backlash - and after Mr Johnson withdrew his support, Mr Paterson resigned as an MP.
The release of text messages was part of an 88-page cache of documents published last night by DHSC.
Labour used a parliamentary procedure known as a “humble address” to force ministers to come forward with the documents - which they had promised by the end of January.
Also included in the papers is a rough, heavily redacted note taken at a meeting between Mr Paterson, former Health Minister Lord Bethell and representatives of Randox in April 2020.
DHSC ministers had previously said they “could not locate” minutes from the meeting - which took place ten days after Randox had been granted its initial contract.
The Mirror understands no formal minutes were taken of the meeting - only rough, handwritten notes taken by an unnamed attendee.
Labour Party chair Anneliese Dodds said: "“Billions of pounds of public money were dished out to Tory-linked companies in those crucial months. If the Government wasn’t keeping basic records, that is a catastrophic failure of governance and the public will rightly wonder how many other meetings took place off the books.
"Ministers must take responsibility for this basic failure of government, and explain what steps they will take to make sure this can never happen again. The shameful Randox saga is yet another example of why the Conservatives under Boris Johnson are simply unfit to govern – and that’s why he should do the decent thing and resign.”
Another disclosure shows a senior civil servant raised concerns about Randox being handed contract extensions without competitive tender.
Permanent Secretary Alex Chisholm wrote in September 2020: "I am disappointed that despite entering into the original contract on 30 March, DHSC have not moved to organise and conclude a competitive contract process and are now in a position where extension by direct award is the only viable option."
He asked for a written commitment from DHSC that proper process would be used in time to renew the contract again the following year, and added: "At least the price has been negotiated down..."
Mr Chisolm's comments were considered to be "approval with conditions."
But a further email from the office of Lord Agnew, the Minister for Efficiency, warned: “I’m very worried about pricing. Given the huge volumes we are paying dramatically over the odds.
“Can you please add as an additional condition that a proper international benchmarking of pricing for comparable tests takes place over the next month so that they are properly informed for their pricing negotiations.”
A spokesperson for Matt Hancock said: "The extensive transparency publication proves Matt did nothing wrong. So much so, we encourage your readers to look at it. To suggest Matt was doing anything other than acting in the national interest is not journalism but proof of an agenda. Matt cannot control who contacts him, but he followed protocol and Owen Paterson's lobbying was flagged to officials.
"To suggest Matt should have ignored the UK’s biggest existing testing capacity because he was being contacted by Owen Paterson is absurd and would have been a dereliction of duty. Matt is incredibly grateful to Randox for the enormous part they have played in the national effort to combat covid."
A government spokesperson said: “As the public would expect, at the start of the pandemic we took every possible step to build the largest diagnostic industry in UK history rapidly and from scratch – which has helped to stop the spread of COVID-19 and keep people safe.
“Building the scale of testing needed at an unprecedented speed required extensive collaboration with businesses, universities, and others, to get the right skills, equipment and logistics in place as quickly as possible.
“There are robust rules and processes in place to ensure that conflicts of interest do not occur and all contracts are awarded in line with procurement regulations and transparency guidelines. Decisions on whether to award contracts are taken by officials and approved by Ministers.
“The documents given to the House today show no evidence of any breach of these principles.”
A spokesperson for Randox said: “It is clear from these papers that Randox contracts were awarded in full compliance with government procedures and protocols in place at a time of the emerging pandemic.
“The awarding of the contracts reflected Randox’s extensive diagnostics capabilities within the UK and 40 years of experience in that field. As Secretary of State, Sajid Javid says in his statement, the service Randox provided was integral to the rapid building, from scratch, of the largest ever testing industry in UK history.
“Randox’s laboratories expanded rapidly in order to operate at scale and were the first laboratory to report over 100,000 PCR results in a day. It is clear from these papers that the company has delivered a vital and core part of the UK’s testing capacity.
“Randox remains proud of its performance and delivery of Covid 19 testing throughout the pandemic. To date Randox has reported almost 24 million PCR results and has played a key role in both keeping people safe and sustaining vital national infrastructure.
“Unlike other laboratories Randox was able from the outset to provide whole-system capabilities to deliver the tests. Both the World Health Organisation and the UK government agreed this capability was crucial to combating the pandemic.”
