Watchdog official ‘said Gove wanted to circumvent process’ for Dyson ventilator

A health watchdog said Michael Gove wanted to “circumvent” the regulatory process to push through a bid by Sir James Dyson to supply NHS ventilators during the pandemic, the UK Covid-19 Inquiry has heard.

The former minister, who was chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (CDL), denied seeking to pressure the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) to approve the product as he gave evidence on Monday.

Reading from an email sent by Graeme Tunbridge, director of devices at the MHRA in March 2020, counsel to the inquiry Richard Wald KC said: “CDL 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 whether he had been seeking to circumvent the role of the MHRA, Mr Gove said: “No, and it’s ludicrous to think that any minister could have done.

“Just imagine the situation, if you will, a minister – Matt Hancock, I, Boris Johnson – says we want to have a potentially lethal machine in hospitals deliberately so that we can meet an arbitrary deadline. It’s inconceivable.”

Mr Gove said that Sir James’ prototype ultimately “did not get through testing” and that “whenever confronted with brute facts about safety or otherwise, I would always accept them”.

“It’s the role of ministers to challenge,” he said.

The former minister accepted that he had had more “direct involvement” with Sir James’ proposal than with other applicants, but said he “could not tell the MHRA what to approve and would not”.

Elsewhere, the inquiry was shown an extract from an email from Mr Gove’s private office sent on March 25 that read: “MHRA and GRW (Sir Gareth Rhys Williams, chief commercial officer at the Cabinet Office) to ensure that by the end of Friday, the Dyson product has been tested and approved by MHRA, a small number of products have been provided to hospitals for human testing, and the final product has started to be manufactured.

“GRW to immediate escalate any blockages to ministers.”

Asked about why he had been able to give “clear instruction that not only would the Dyson product have been tested three days later, but also approved by MHRA by that time,” Mr Gove said: “I could not tell the MHRA what to approve and would not. I think that this is the private office’s shorthand for ‘we would hope that it had been tested and if tested satisfactorily approved by the MHRA to that timescale’.”

He added: “It’s absurd to imagine that I or any other minister could instruct the MHRA, an independent regulatory agency, to approve a product. If I had told the MHRA to approve a product, they would have told me where to get off.”

Meanwhile, the inquiry heard senior Cabinet Office civil servant Sir John Manzoni had been “concerned” that “indirect pressure was being placed on the MHRA to approve the supplier’s design” after a meeting with Mr Gove, Sir James and Sir Gareth.

“I felt I had to, and did, intervene in this meeting to ensure that the MHRA approval system, as the regulatory system, was properly applied and to protect the integrity of the process,” Sir John said in a statement.

Mr Gove said he disagreed and that he “respected the integrity of the process throughout.”

In a separate exchange with Sir John on March 25 that year, Mr Rhys Williams had said he felt Mr Gove was “being unreasonable”.

“Even if he was correct that we had delayed anything, which I don’t believe he is at all, his tone is… regrettable. But see below. It would appear that the Dyson sample is not yet ready to be shipped, by them.

“MHRA could have been testing something else this evening.”

Mr Gove said he did not believe it was fair to suggest that time and effort spent on Sir James’ ventilator proposal meant that the same resources could not be devoted to other bids.

“There are always trade-offs in this process… I think in the greater scheme of things, the loss of time, the opportunity cost, would have been nugatory,” he told the inquiry.

He added: “Sometimes I can be unreasonable and rebarbative in tone and I apologise for that, but I think that in this case what I was seeking to do was see if an opportunity existed to produce ventilators from a source which, if they were viable, would have been capable of producing them at a scale and in a number greater than any of the other rivals.”

The inquiry continues on Tuesday.