Covid-19: Gove tried to “circumvent” regulations to buy Dyson ventilators, inquiry hears

A senior government minister wanted to “circumvent” the UK’s regulatory processes to expedite a proposal by the businessman James Dyson to supply ventilators to the NHS during the covid-19 pandemic, the UK’s covid inquiry has heard.

Giving evidence to the inquiry on 10 March,1 Michael Gove, who was chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and headed the Cabinet Office during the pandemic, rejected claims that he tried to exert pressure on the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) to approve Dyson’s product.

The inquiry’s fifth module, focusing on procurement, has heard that Dyson was “apparently championed” by Gove and the then prime minister, Boris Johnson, as part of the government’s “ventilator challenge,” set up in March 2020 amid concern that the UK could run out of ventilators.

At the inquiry Gove was presented with an email sent by Graeme Tunbridge, the MHRA’s director of devices, in March 2020. The email said, “CDL [chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Gove] was keen to press forward with Dyson’s proposal to a timescale that is totally unrealistic, based in part on promises made by Dyson that are already not being fulfilled.

“In addition, however, CDL did not appreciate the level of risk involved in the manufacture and use of ventilators and wanted to circumvent the expedited regulatory process that has been put in place.”

Asked …