FORMER vaccines tsar Kate Bingham – the wife of Herefordshire MP Jesse Norman – has explained how the UK's nimbleness and willingness to take risks and minimise bureaucracy has helped make its roll-out of Covid jabs the envy of the world.

In a wide-ranging interview published by Italian newspaper La Repubblica, she also touched on, for the first time, accusations of cronyism levelled against her by some newspapers in Britain.

“I wouldn't believe everything you read... there's very little that they've written that is correct," she said.

"In terms of bureaucracy: I think our government did a beautiful job because I reported it to the Prime Minister and we created a process and team just like a venture capital investment for the approval of vaccines.

"I don't touch any money of course; I make no spending decisions, nor am I involved in any operational contracts etc.”

Ms Bingham, who is herself a venture capitalist specialising in the life-sciences industry, took a break from her career last year when she was approached by Prime Minister Boris Johnson to lead the UK's Vaccine Taskforce (VTF).

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She stepped down from the role in December after her agreed six-month engagement came to an end.

The UK is currently second placed in the world for the proportion of the population that has been vaccinated, behind Israel but ahead of the US and all other European countries, according to Our World In Data.

In the interview, Ms Bingham highlighted what she thought had given the UK an advantage in the global race to get people vaccinated against Covid-19, and so save lives.

She said: “Being quick and nimble was definitely important.

"The fact that I've been in the industry for 30 years and the team that I work with have been in the industry at least as long, if not longer, meant that we had connections very broadly across the industry.

"So that meant I could just pick up the phone and speak directly to a company.

"With one company we had our first meeting on a Thursday and we had a follow up meeting on Saturday, and would agree the rough outline of a deal the following week."

Mr Norman, who is MP for Herefordshire and South Herefordshire, felt obliged to defend his wife in the Hereford Times last November.

She had been accused by some newspapers of cronyism over her appointment, and of lavish spending on public relations firms.

Mr Norman said in response that his wife had done nothing wrong, and that her work in securing stocks of an effective Covid-19 vaccine for Britain deserved praise rather than condemnation.