A TORY peer used private email accounts for thousands of messages relating to Covid contracts, it has emerged ahead of a High Court judicial review.

Lord Bethell, a former Ministry of Sound nightclub mogul, faced pressure to resign today for breaching the ministerial code and ignoring basic standards of integrity.

Keyword searches carried out by government lawyers found that he exchanged up to 33,000 emails concerning Covid-19 contracts.

The exact number of emails is not known as the government refused to carry out detailed searches or examine the emails’ contents, claiming that this would not be justified.

In June, a Downing Street official asserted that both Lord Bethell and former health secretary Matt Hancock, who is also involved in the scandal, understand the rules on personal email usage and only conducted government business through their departmental email accounts.

The judicial review, brought by the Good Law Project, is challenging multiple deals worth a total of £87.5 million to plan, produce and supply home tests for Covid antibodies.

The deals between the Department of Health and Social Care and York-based firm Abingdon Health were signed in April 2020.

The latest revelations emerged from letters from the government legal department to the Good Law Project ahead of a review hearing.

Abingdon received at least £19 million of public money. Its two directors’ shares were valued at £19.6m in February after the firm launched on the London Stock Exchange’s AIM submarket on the back of the antibody deals.

The main supply contract was eventually cancelled because the tests were too inaccurate.

According to official guidance, ministers should use Whitehall systems for official business so that a full record is preserved.

The use of private emails is being investigated by Information Commissioner Elizabeth Denham.

Deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner said that Lord Bethell had “shown contempt for the British people by dishing out taxpayers’ money to his mates in private and then trying to cover it up.”

She said: “At the height of the pandemic, the first priority for ministers should have been saving lives, not enriching their mates.

“It is vital that the information commissioner’s investigation gets to the bottom of this racket and this investigation must be extended to other government departments and other ministers.

“These emails must be secured for the public inquiry so we know exactly what has been going on in secret.”

Ms Rayner said that Lord Bethell should “clear his desk.”

She added: “He has breached security rules, broken the ministerial code and ignored basic standards of integrity and transparency in public office.

“If he had any shame, he would resign, and if the Prime Minister had a backbone, he would sack him.”

Downing Street said that ministers use a range of means of communication for discussions and that the pandemic has demanded remote working and fast-paced communications.