Former Tory chairman Andrew Feldman ‘used health department role to win PPE contract for his client’

A former chairman of the Conservative Party has allegedly used his role advising the Department of Health to initiate a government contract for a client at his lobbying firm.

In emails seen by the Financial Times, Andrew Feldman was given an unpaid role advising Lord Bethell, a health minister, between March 24 and May 15 last year.

This is despite Mr Feldman also running the lobbying and PR firm Tulchan since 2019.

Emails obtained by the campaign group, the Good Law Project, said that he urged an official in the Cabinet Office in March 2020 to buy PPE from Bunzl, one of Tulchan’s clients.

Bunzl was later awarded a £22.6 million deal on April 2, in addition to the three contracts to supply PPE.

Mr Feldman told the Financial Times: “When I agreed to help at the start of the first lockdown, it was clearly a time of significant national crisis.

“My sole motivation was to try to support the Government and the NHS in protecting medical staff and saving the lives of patients.”

An official from the Department of Health and Social Care said that “proper due diligence” had been done on all contracts.

It comes amid a row over lobbying of the Civil Service, a row which deepened in April when it was revealed that a senior civil servant was granted permission to join Greensill Capital while still working at the highest levels of government.