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In her ruling on Wednesday, Mrs Justice O’Farrell said that while the use of the so-called VIP lane – officially known as the high priority lane – was unlawful, the contracts at the centre of the case would “very likely” have been given without it.

The Good Law Project and EveryDoctor claimed the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) unlawfully awarded contracts to supply PPE at the height of the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic.

The groups took legal action over more than £340 million in contracts awarded to pest control firm PestFix and a contract worth around £252 million to the hedge fund Ayanda Capital.

Discussing contracts given to the pest control company PestFix, Mrs Justice O’Farrell said: “PestFix offered high volumes of a range of PPE items that were in urgent demand.

“It had an established business in sourcing PPE, plausible contacts with manufacturers… and could provide a logistical solution to transport the PPE from the manufacturers to the UK.

“These skills, experience, contacts and credibility justified priority consideration of the high volume offers.

“Regardless whether they were made through the portal and assessed by the opportunities team, or were assessed by the high priority lane team, it is very likely that the offers would have resulted in the award of the PestFix contracts.”

The judge made similar findings in relation to the contract awarded to hedge fund Ayanda Capital.

The High Court was told the VIP lane was reserved for referrals from MPs, ministers and senior officials, adding that DHSC “then prioritised suppliers including PestFix and Ayanda because of who they knew, not what they could deliver”.

The Good Law Project and EveryDoctor argued that the use of the VIP lane gave an unfair, unlawful advantage to some companies.

DHSC contested the claim, telling the court it “wholeheartedly” rejected the case against it and that the VIP lane was rational and resulted in a “large number of credible offers” in an environment where PPE deals often failed within “minutes”.

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In a judgment on Wednesday, Mrs Justice O’Farrell said that it was unlawful to give the two companies preferential treatment on the basis of being part of the VIP lane.

However, she found that both of the companies’ offers “justified priority treatment on its merits” and were “very likely” to have been awarded contracts even without the VIP lane.

The news came as Prime Minister Boris Johnson prepares to defend his premiership amid demands from across the political divide to come clean about a “bring your own booze” party held in Downing Street during a coronavirus lockdown.

Politicians have called for Mr Johnson to resign with some in the Conservative Party saying he should quit if he is found to have broken strict laws his government brought in to prevent the spread of the virus.

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