Reform UK treasurer Nick Candy’s firm was put in Covid ‘VIP lane’
Exclusive: Candy’s personal company among previously undisclosed Tory-linked businesses and individuals placed in controversial PPE VIP lane.
By Jenna Corderoy, Peter Geoghegan and Russ Scott
Reform UK treasurer Nick Candy’s family office was placed on the lucrative ‘VIP lane’ for Covid contracts, Democracy for Sale can reveal.
Candy Capital Ltd was referred to the politically connected fast-track system after offering to facilitate connections between the Conservative government and PPE suppliers during the pandemic. The company did not receive any Covid contracts.
Candy, a billionaire property developer, donated £340,000 to the Tories before resigning from the party in December to join Reform UK as treasurer.
Candy Capital was one of a number of Conservative-linked firms named in documents released to this newsletter after we won a four-year legal battle to force the disclosure of all companies referred to the VIP lane.
Other names released to us include companies owned by retail giant Next, whose CEO is leading Tory donor Simon Wolfson, the British-Chinese wife of a Conservative peer and a company that operates a chain of dental clinics whose owner has given more than £250,000 to the Conservatives.
While none of these firms were successful in their bids, politically-connected ‘VIPs’ were given over £1 billion in PPE contracts during the pandemic, often after being referred to the VIP lane by Tory ministers, MPs, and officials.
The government is still refusing to release the names of the politicians who referred companies to the VIP lane - a refusal that Democracy for Sale is continuing to fight.
Nick Candy has emerged as one of the biggest names in British political funding. In December, Candy was pictured alongside Reform leader Nigel Farage and Elon Musk at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate.
Candy has pledged to “secure more money for [Reform] than any other [party] in British political history.” His wife, ex Neighbours star Holly Valance, has also donated to Farage’s party.
But when the pandemic hit in 2020, Candy was a leading Conservative donor and his personal firm, Candy Capital, offered to facilitate connections between the UK government and PPE suppliers.
Candy Capital is described on its website as “a privately-held family office established by British entrepreneur and businessman Nick Candy to manage his personal business interests and group of companies.”
A spokesperson for Candy Capital said that the company was not aware that it was on the VIP lane and that “no business was conducted, no PPE was supplied, and no commercial benefit of any kind was received by Candy Capital Ltd or Nick Candy in relation to PPE or any government procurement process.”
Hi, Peter here. I’ve written a big piece on Reform’s donors in this month’s issue of Prospect. It’s a terrific magazine, full of insights, and Prospect now has a one-month free access offer for all Democracy for Sale readers who sign up by clicking here.
The list of unsuccessful PPE ‘VIPs’ includes companies in the Next group based in Shanghai and Sri Lanka. The retail giant’s CEO Simon Wolfson has donated over £600,000 to the Conservatives and was given a seat in the House of Lords by David Cameron.
Also named is Lady Xuelin Bates, a Conservative donor who has given over £200,000 to the party. In 2022 the Times reported that the wife of Tory peer Michael Bates had attended a meeting of a branch of Chinese intelligence that MI5 has said covertly interferes in British politics.
Bates said she made bids through the government public tender website set up to procure PPE supplies and was not aware that she had been referred to the VIP lane.
Another unsuccessful bidder that appears in the list disclosed to Democracy for Sale is FOSROC International, which is the largest part of JMH International, entrepreneur James Hay’s privately-owned business. The Dubai-based Scottish businessman donated close to £400,000 to the Conservative between 2012 and 2017.
Hay’s wife Fitriani has given the Tories over £800,000, including bankrolling Liz Truss’s disastrous leadership win. She also gave £50,000 to Reform UK ahead of last year’s general election.
During the Covid Inquiry, a civil servant said that Hay’s company FOSROC had been referred to the lane by former Tory party chairman Andrew Feldman.
The same civil servant said that Lord Feldman was involved in referring three companies that later won contracts, as well as at least 18 others that did not. Among Feldman’s unsuccessful referrals was The Hut Group, an online beauty retailer whose founder, Matt Moulding, has donated over £300,000 to the Conservatives and attended exclusive “donor club” dinners.
Other unsuccessful VIP companies included Genix Healthcare, which operates a chain of dental clinics and has donated over £160,000 to the Conservatives. Genix’s owner, Mustafa Mohammed, has personally contributed more than £250,000 to the party.
The Covid VIP lane fast-tracked firms recommended by Tory politicians and party insiders. According to a National Audit Office investigation, companies in the VIP lane were ten times more likely to win contracts. Over half of the PPE they supplied was later found to be unusable.
Among those who were given multimillion-pound deals were firms linked to major Conservative figures, such as David Meller, who personally lobbied Michael Gove to ‘speed up’ a £65 million PPE contract, and scandal-hit Baroness Michelle Mone.
In February 2021, Democracy for Sale reporter Jenna Corderoy submitted a Freedom of Information (FOI) request to the Cabinet Office demanding the names of all companies referred to the VIP lane and the individuals who recommended them.
After a prolonged legal battle, a judge ordered the full release of the unsuccessful bidders to us - but the government has refused to release the names of the politicians who referred them.
A Cabinet Office spokesperson said that the request “relates to matters under the previous government” and added that “the Covid Counter Fraud Commissioner is working to deliver on our commitment to do everything in our power to recoup money for the NHS, schools and the police."
Jo Maugham, director of the Good Law Project, called on the government to release all the details of the VIP lane.
"It is absolutely disgraceful - strong language that accurately reflects the culpability of the Department responsible for this vast misuse of public money - for Cabinet Office to continue to refuse to come clean about who Michael Gove and other Ministers were lobbied by," Maugham told this newsletter.
Democracy for Sale will continue to fight this government secrecy. We are working with our legal team on numerous important cases, including fighting to release of all the details of the Covid VIP lane.
Editor’s note: this piece was edited on Thursday April 10 to reflect that Holly Valance starred in Neighbours, not Home and Away. We regret the error.
Off the scale corruption.
Keep fighting 🥊🥊