Well this is very weird indeed because it’s a complete reversal of what he actually said. There’s something a little strange about the obsessive reference to it as the ‘ventilator’ scheme. https://twitter.com/tomtugendhat/status/1252679936768344070

I simply don’t believe he didn’t mean what he said. He was very clear. But I wonder if they have managed to find some wiggle room through some cunning drafting...

Remember there are two parts. The agreement itself and the actual procurement rounds. The main part of the letter seems to me to refer to the agreement itself rather than the procurement rounds.

It is entirely possible he didn’t brief ministers about the joint procurement agreement itself (which the UK joined in 2014, I believe) but perhaps did (I speculate) about the procurement rounds.

The ‘misunderstanding’, then, is (perhaps, I speculate), as to whether the question he was answering (somewhat reframed in the letter), was about the agreement or the procurement rounds.