According to the Times newspaper, Mr Cameron wrote to Mr Hancock personally to recommend he attend the conference. Mr Cameron’s spokesman confirmed both men had attended the conference.
The conference was co-hosted by Illumina and Genomics England.
In the letter, seen by the Times, Mr Cameron wrote to Mr Hancock: “I understand Jay [Flatley, then executive chairman of Illumina] has sent this direct to your office, but I wanted to i) ensure that you had seen it personally; and ii) strongly endorse their invitation to this significant conference.”
The BBC understands that Mr Cameron did forward a copy of a letter of invitation to the conference to Mr Hancock, after a previous one had been sent directly.
The Times reported that a week after the conference at the Four Seasons Hotel, in Hampshire, in September 2019, the company was given a £123m contract for genetic sequencing without competition The contract is with Genomics England, a company wholly owned by the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC).
The DHSC said that the contract was “was awarded in the correct way, through the proper process”.
Deputy Leader of the Labour Party Angela Rayner said: "“There is rampant cronyism, sleaze and dodgy lobbying that is polluting our democracy under Boris Johnson and the Conservatives. They hand public money to their mates without a second thought.”
The BBC has approached Mr Hancock for comment.
Mr Cameron’s spokesman said: “David Cameron’s work for Illumina has never involved any discussion of commercial contracts.”
The Department for Health and Social Care said it carried out “extensive due diligence”.
David Cameron met vaccine minister Nadhim Zahawi with representatives of a private health firm which he advises, two months before the US company won public contracts worth up to £870,000.
The meeting, uncovered by Open Democracy, is listed in official government transparency records as taking place between Mr Zahawi, Mr Cameron and Illumina on 1 March 2021 “to discuss UK genomics sequencing”.
Shortly afterwards, on 29 April, Illumina Cambridge Ltd was awarded a £697,788 Public Health England contract to supply medical equipment, pharmaceuticals, personal care products and laboratory, optical and precision equipments. A week later on 7 May, a second PHE contract worth between £34,564 and £172,824 was awarded to the company for a similar range of supplies.
But a spokesman for the former PM insisted that he had never lobbied the government on behalf of Illumina, and the Department for Health and Social Care said that the 1 March meeting was “in no way connected to government contracts”. (1)
Mr Cameron informed Acoba that he would not play any role in contract negotiations between Illumina and the DHSC or Genomics England – a DHSC-owned company which he set up while he was PM in 2013. And Acoba said he assured them that while his role might involve “some very limited contact with UK ministers from time to time”, he “would not lobby ministers or the UK government in any way on behalf of Illumina or its partners”.
Labour’s deputy leader Angela Rayner told Open Democracy: “David Cameron’s behaviour is evidence that the rules that are supposed to regulate lobbying are completely unfit for purpose and need a radical and urgent overhaul. There appears to be nobody in government who the former prime minister has not lobbied in an effort to enrich himself and his clients during this pandemic.” (2)
