In the High Court in February, Mr Justice Chamberlain said the public were entitled to see who the money was going to, what it was being spent on and how the relevant contracts were awarded.

Challenged about the ruling in the House of Commons on 22 February, Mr Johnson said: "All the details are on the record."

But three days later, in a written legal response to the Good Law Project, seen by the BBC, government lawyers admitted 100 contracts for suppliers and services relating to Covid-19 signed before 7 October had yet to be published.

The court had asked the government to declare the number of contracts which had been published late.

Government lawyers also confirmed that 482 out of 513 contract award notices - 94% of them - had been published outside the 30 days required by law.

"It is only when details of contracts are published that they can be properly scrutinised, otherwise there is no way of knowing where taxpayers' money is going and why," says Gemma Abbott, the Good Law Project's legal director.

The exchange, seen by the Guardian, suggests Alex Bourne, a former publican who had no prior experience of producing medical devices before he began supplying the government, may have downplayed his relationship with Hancock in public.

The messages, which suggest an easy familiarity between the two men, were sent in late November, shortly before the Guardian published a story about Bourne’s work supplying the NHS and his links to the health secretary.

The WhatsApp exchange seen by the Guardian took place on 25 November, the day before the newspaper published its first story about the pair. Both had been asked questions about the nature of their relationship and whether Bourne had received any preferential treatment.

The disclosure of the messages is likely to intensify pressure on Hancock to fully explain how Bourne’s company came to be awarded lucrative work supplying test tubes for use in NHS Covid test kits.

Bourne, Hancock and the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) have all insisted the health secretary had no role whatsoever in awarding the work.

Bourne’s lawyers deny that Hancock helped their client in any way and have also denied the pair are friends, saying they were merely “acquainted”. Hancock has refused to be drawn on the nature of his relationship with Bourne, who ran a village pub close to his former constituency home.

Bourne’s lawyers say he has not sought to avoid scrutiny of his contacts with Hancock, and said that after every exchange he sent the DHSC a note to ensure there was a record of their conversation.

Matt Hancock could be forced to reveal names of politicians behind “VIP” Covid-19 contract bids after officials blocked them out.

A High Court judge is set to rule next week whether the Health Secretary must identify MPs, ministers and Tory associates who fast-tracked firms that won £1.7billion of contracts when the pandemic first hit.

In a case brought by campaign group Good Law Project, black lines were drawn over names of those who recommended firms and decided who got what.

Normal competition rules were suspended as the Government raced for PPE and ventilators. It led to what one lawyer in the Good Law Project described as a “red carpet to riches” for friends of ministers and MPs.

Papers given to the High Court hearing show Covid procurement teams were “drowning in VIP requests and High Priority Contacts”, many of which were not backed up by the correct certification or “due diligence”.

Lawyers have also protested that documents submitted in Mr Hancock’s defence do not include text or WhatsApp messages, file notes or submissions to ministers.

The judge, Mrs Justice Finola O’Farrell, indicated the identity of individuals should be made public if they had a significant role in the VIP decision making.

Many offers came from firms with no experience in making PPE and no qualification other than a nod from a Tory pal in high places. The average contract value for VIP winners was £36million.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock has been ordered to hand over WhatsApp messages about the government’s PPE deals, as more names of companies in the controversial “VIP lane” emerged.

The government is battling a High Court challenge from the Good Law Project over the way £650 million of contracts for NHS protective masks and gowns were handed to three companies.

Mrs Justice O’Farrell has ordered a fresh trawl of internal communications over the deals, as well as messages about the establishment of a VIP lane for firms with political connections seeking contracts.

At Thursday’s hearing, it emerged that a WhatsApp group of 200 CEOs and a similar channel to senior procurement executives were used to spread information on PPE deals that might be available.

Any firm entering the VIP lane could expect a reply “within the hour”, while companies without connections received a delayed response or no reply at all.

It was revealed yesterday that confectionary firm Clandeboye, clothing manufacturer Meller Designs, Luxe Lifestyle – trading in “specialised design activities” – and P14 Medical were all in the VIP lane, receiving contracts worth more than £350m.

The government has so far resisted calls to reveal the names of all 47 firms which secured contracts through the VIP lane, as well as the names of politicians who promoted them.

The judge ruled the phones of seven key officials should be searched for messages relevant to the case, while also ordering a trawl for documents showing ministerial knowledge of “the establishment and criteria for selecting potential suppliers for the high-priority lane”.

A full hearing is expected on May 17.

If labour were in charge everyone would be dead by now.

Instead of congratulating the government on the world leading vaccine rollout all the left do is reflect, split hairs and pick faults.

Its one of the many reasons labour have only been elected once over the best part of 50 years.

Even with the ongoing crisis with Boris Johnson, Starmer still manages to lose support and Boris' support goes up in the polls.

Just shows how useless the opposition is