Here are the texts between Boris Johnson and businessman Sir James Dyson from March 2020. Mr Johnson says he will ‘fix’ the tax system for Dyson’s employees...
In response, Sir James Dyson said it was "absurd to suggest that the urgent correspondence was anything other than seeking compliance with rules" and that his company did not receive "any benefit from the project".
At the time, the U.K. urgently needed ventilators to treat COVID patients. Sir James Dyson said he was able to make them (although it didn’t happen in the end). The gov says there were genuine fears the U.K. wld run out of ventilators
According to the ministerial code - a list of rules setting out the standards of conduct expected of ministers - "a private secretary or official should be present for all discussions relating to government business".
Two weeks after these texts, Rishi Sunak, the chancellor, told a group of MPs that the tax status of people who came to the UK to provide specific help during the pandemic would not be affected.
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