VIP lanes and 25m faulty gowns: what PPE Medro trial reveals about Tory response to Covid

Case against Michelle Mone-linked company showed pressure to award contracts to those with political connections

• UK government wins 122m pandemic case against Michelle Mone-linked firm over faulty PPE

Opening the high-stakes trial in a workaday, office-like courtroom in June, the government's barrister Paul Stanley KC sought to manage expectations for the media crowd in the folding seats at the back.

The case, he said, was not going to focus on the role of Michelle Mone, the Conservative peer who helped secure multimillion pound personal protective equipment (PPE) contracts for her husband's company during the Covid pandemic.