Michelle Mone admits she stands to benefit from £60 million PPE profits

Michelle Mone has admitted she could benefit from a PPE contract she helped arrange during the pandemic, after repeatedly denying her links to the government deal

Baroness Michelle Mone has admitted she stands to benefit from a contract between the government and PPE firm Medpro, after previously denying links to the business.

The Conservative peer and Ultimo bra tycoon insisted she had done nothing wrong as she was questioned over so-called “VIP lane” contracts issued during the Covid-19 pandemic.

PPE Medpro was awarded government contracts worth more than £200 million to supply personal protective equipment after she recommended it to the government.

Earlier this month she conceded she made an "error" by publicly denying her links to Medpro, which is being investigated by the National Crime Agency.

Lady Mone has repeatedly denied that she had profited from the deal, which she first discussed with government ministers including Michael Gove - who is now facing calls to appear before MPs over Medpro after Lady Mone's admission.

Lady Mone, who was appointed to the Lords by David Cameron in 2015, said she contacted Mr Gove at the start of the pandemic following a “call to arms for all lords, baronesses, MPs, senior civil servants, to help, because they needed massive quantities of PPE”.

“I just said, ‘We can help, and we want to help.’ And he was like, ‘Oh my goodness, this is amazing’,” she added.

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has since issued breach of contract proceedings over the 2020 deal on the supply of gowns.

However, appearing on the BBC's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme today, she admitted she is a beneficiary of her husband Doug Barrowman’s financial trusts, which holds around £60 million of profit from the deal.

Lady Mone conceded to making repeated untruthful statements in relation to the matter, but claimed that she and her husband had been made “scapegoats” for the government’s wider failings over PPE.

She told Kuenssberg: “I did make an error in saying to the press that I wasn’t involved,” she said “Hindsight is a wonderful thing. I wasn’t trying to pull the wool over anyone’s eyes, and I regret and I’m sorry for not saying straight out, yes, I am involved.”

When asked if she stands to benefit: “If one day, if God forbid, my husband passes away before me, then I am a beneficiary, as well as his children and my children, so yes, of course.”

Millions of gowns supplied by the company were never used by health services. The couple insist the gowns were supplied in accordance with the contract.

Shadow Cabinet Office minister Nick Thomas-Symonds has now called on Mr Gove to answer questions following her claim.

In a letter to Mr Gove, he said: “This series of events has led to civil litigation and a National Crime Agency investigation. Yet these ongoing matters should not preclude you from addressing questions about your own involvement and the role of the Government.

“Events so far expose a shocking recklessness by the Conservative government with regard to public money, and a sorry tale of incompetence in relation to the so-called ‘VIP Lane’ for procurement during the pandemic.”

Mr Thomas-Symonds said that Mr Gove should answer questions about the so-called “call to arms” and what further communications he had with Lady Mone.

“The very least Conservative ministers owe is maximum possible transparency and there should be an urgent statement to Parliament before the Christmas Recess,” he said.

Lady Mone recently told a YouTube documentary that they both would be cleared, arguing they have “done nothing wrong”.

The film, part of a public fightback, is believed to have been funded by PPE Medpro. It comes as two experts who appeared in the film told The Sunday Times that they were unaware in advance of the intended focus of the documentary or its funding. Former detective-turned-investigative journalist Mark Williams-Thomas, who presented and produced, the documentary, said: “For the Sunday Times to suggest contributors were duped is totally refuted , un- evidenced and totally incorrect & unfair reporting. “Both individuals have said they would have said exactly the same had they known the programme was eventually funded by PPE Medpro.”

A Department of Health spokesman said: “We do not comment on ongoing legal cases.”

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