A Conservative peer who introduced a company he was involved in to the government to supply PPE is under investigation for the third time for potential breaches of the rules governing members’ conduct in the House of Lords.

The new investigation follows the publication by the Covid-19 public inquiry of text messages and emails sent by Peter Gummer, whose peerage title is Lord Chadlington, introducing the company, SG Recruitment.

Chadlington sent a text regarding the company on 19 April 2020 to David Cameron, requesting help with advice on approaching the government. One week later, the small, loss-making nurse recruitment agency was awarded a £23.9m contract to supply coveralls. A month later during the pandemic, in May 2020, SG Recruitment was awarded a second contract, for £26.1m, to supply hand sanitiser.

The two contracts for a total of £50m were processed via the then Conservative government’s “VIP lane”, which gave high priority to companies introduced by people with political connections. Chadlington, a Tory peer since 1996, is a former adviser to Cameron and John Major when they were prime ministers. He had a financial interest in SG Recruitment – he was the chair, a paid director and a shareholder in the parent company, Sumner Group Holdings (SGH), registered in Jersey. The new messages show that Cameron referred Chadlington to another Tory peer, Andrew Feldman, a close friend of Cameron’s, who was advising the Department of Health and Social Care on PPE procurement.

Chadlington’s involvement in introducing SG Recruitment to Feldman was investigated twice previously by the House of Lords commissioner for standards, in 2022 and 2023, after reporting by the Guardian. The commissioner cleared Chadlington both times of breaking the rule that prohibits peers from seeking to profit from Lords membership by approaching ministers or officials in return for payment or financial incentive.

The new investigation will examine again if Chadlington broke that rule when introducing the company to the government, and another rule prohibiting peers from lobbying for companies in which they have a financial interest.

Chadlington told the Lords commissioner in writing in August 2023 that he did not “facilitate an introduction” of SG Recruitment’s majority owner, David Sumner, to Feldman.

However, in an email published by the Covid inquiry, and disclosed previously to the Guardian in response to a freedom of information request, it appears Chadlington directly introduced Feldman to Sumner.

“David,” Chadlington wrote, addressing Sumner, copying them both in. “This is my friend Andrew Feldman. He can help you with PPE we discussed this morning. Drop me off chain. Peter.”

The announcement of the third investigation states that the commissioner will also examine whether Chadlington has breached paragraph 9 of the Lords code of conduct, that: “Members of the House … should act always on their personal honour in the performance of their parliamentary duties and activities.”

The messages sent by Chadlington were published in a written submission to the inquiry by the Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice, a group of 7,000 families whose relatives died of the coronavirus. The inquiry is now examining the circumstances in which ministers and civil servants set up the VIP lane, and awarded its prioritised companies £3.8bn in contracts.

In its submission on SG Recruitment, the bereaved Covid families group said: “Members of the public are … entitled to form their own views as to whether the correspondence disclosed to the inquiry in relation to this contract is consistent with the accounts provided by Lord Chadlington elsewhere.”

Invited to comment by the Guardian, Chadlington’s lawyers said: “Given the investigation by the commissioner, and given the ongoing inquiry, it would not be appropriate for our client to provide any comment in response to your enquiries.”

They said that Chadlington’s position remains that the accounts he has previously given about his involvement are consistent with the messages he sent that have now been published.

The government has said it is in dispute with SG Recruitment over the non-fulfilment of one of the PPE contracts. Despite the £50m deals, in December 2023 the company, which had been renamed, was put into liquidation, owing unpaid taxes to HMRC. The parent company went into liquidation in October 2022. Chadlington had resigned as a director in April 2021.