Civil servants were "drowning" in requests for companies with links to politicians and senior officials wanting to "jump the queue" for lucrative PPE contracts, a court has heard.
Government staff warned that fast-tracking firms "has a knock on effect to the remaining offers of help", according to emails released in a High Court hearing today.
The emails also showed a pest control firm which landed hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of Covid contracts was put forward for the 'VIP' list by Steve Oldfield, the Department for Health and Social Care’s Chief Commercial Officer because the chairman was a friend of the father-in-law.