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Matt Hancock neighbour denies NHS cronyism claim





A businessman at the centre of cronyism claims over the awarding of an NHS contract has told the BBC proper procedures were followed.

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Alex Bourne denied allegations he had won work because of a WhatsApp message to then health secretary Matt Hancock.

Claims first surfaced in November 2020 when The Guardian reported the exchange between Mr Bourne and Mr Hancock, which took place the previous March.

Mr Bourne told the BBC: "I know I've done nothing wrong."

In December 2020, a company called Alpha Laboratories was given a £40.4m contract to manufacture and supply swab sample collection tubes for the NHS Test and Trace programme.

This work was then subcontracted to Hinpack, a Cambridgeshire manufacturing company run by Mr Bourne - but only, according to Mr Bourne, after he had contacted it himself to offer his services.

He maintains this had no connection to Mr Hancock.

On Tuesday, the matter was raised in the Commons by Labour Party chair Anneliese Dodds.

In response, Mr Hancock said claims that Mr Bourne had got or applied for a contract from the NHS or the government were a "load of rubbish".

Speaking to the BBC, former army officer Mr Bourne said he was offering to help during a time of national crisis when the government was mobilising industry to provide personal protective equipment (PPE) and medical supplies.

Asked about his contact with Mr Hancock, Mr Bourne said: "I got his phone number from a former neighbour of his and simply sent a text message.

"I introduced myself in full because... I hadn't spoken to him by that stage in probably three years. And he simply kindly replied and said, 'Please send the details of this to my Parliamentary email address', which I did."

The BBC has seen this exchange and can confirm that Mr Hancock responded by providing his Parliamentary email address.