Michelle Mone is urged not to return to the House of Lords as she blasts Rishi Sunak over PPE and claims ‘they all knew’ about her involvement

• Baroness Mone has been urged not to return to the House of Lords
• She and her husband concealed their role in the £200million PPE deal 
• Mone admitted she stands to rake in tens of millions of pounds from the deal  

Michelle Mone should not return to the House of Lords, a Tory peer suggested yesterday, after she admitted lying to the Press over her links to a controversial PPE firm.

Conservative minister Lord Callanan said Lady Mone ‘should have declared her involvement’ with PPE Medpro, which is now being investigated by the National Crime Agency, and hoped she would ‘see sense’ and not return to the red benches.

But yesterday Lady Mone hit back at her critics. After Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said he was taking the matter ‘extremely seriously’, she demanded: ‘What is he talking about?’ and added that ministers and top civil servants all knew about her involvement from the start.

The lingerie tycoon admitted for the first time over the weekend that she stands to benefit from profits of tens of millions of pounds from the PPE deal, which the Government is now suing to recover.

She and her billionaire husband Doug Barrowman apologised for concealing their role in the £200million deal for more than three years. 

Michelle Mone (pictured, right) should not return to the House of Lords, a Tory peer suggested yesterday

She and her billionaire husband Doug Barrowman apologised for concealing their role in the £200million deal for more than three years

But, in what was described as a ‘car crash’ interview with the BBC, the former Tory peer insisted she could not ‘see what we have done wrong’ and said it was ‘not a crime’ to lie to the Press.

Yesterday Tory minister Lord Callanan told Sky News: ‘I watched the interview [on Sunday] – I think she should have declared her involvement in that in the House of Lords register, and there is guidance available for that.

‘I would hope that she would see sense (and) make sense of her situation.’

He added: ‘All of the legal actions at the moment will need to run their course, that’s a matter for her to decide what she does, but let’s wait and see the outcome of the various court cases that are ongoing.’ 

Asked if Lady Mone had the right to make laws, Lord Callanan said: ‘I would hope that she would not be coming back to the House of Lords.’

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer also said he did not think Lady Mone should remain in the Lords, adding: ‘I think the Government should be held to account for this.’

She claimed that Michael Gove and Sir Chris Wormald, permanent secretary at the Department of Health, ‘approved the purchase of 5 years supply of PPE when the remit was to build up only 4 months’

Baroness Mone and her lawyers repeatedly insisted she and Mr Barrowman, 58, had nothing to do with the company or the process of awarding the contracts.

Mr Sunak said yesterday: ‘The Government takes these things incredibly seriously, which is why we’re pursuing legal action against the company concerned.

‘But it is also subject to an ongoing criminal investigation. And because of that, there’s not much further that I can add.’

But Lady Mone hit back, writing on X, formerly Twitter: ‘What is Rishi Sunak talking about? I was honest with the Cabinet Office, the Government and the NHS in my dealings with them.

‘They all knew about my involvement from the very beginning.’

She also claimed that Michael Gove and Sir Chris Wormald, permanent secretary at the Department of Health, ‘approved the purchase of 5 years supply of PPE when the remit was to build up only 4 months’.

‘They oversaw huge waste in PPE contracts,’ she said on X. ‘They have both had questions to answer for a very long time.’

But a government source said: ‘Ministers don’t play any role in procurement decisions.’ 

Lady Mone lobbied Michael Gove (pictured) and Lord Agnew to secure lucrative business for PPE Medpro, a company Mr Barrowman was involved in.

Lady Mone lobbied Michael Gove and Lord Agnew to secure lucrative business for PPE Medpro, a company Mr Barrowman was involved in.

It was then awarded contracts to supply the NHS with medical protective equipment during the pandemic through the ‘VIP lane’ to fast-track preferred partners.

The deal yielded profits of about £60million but PPE Medpro is being sued by the Government for £122million plus costs for alleged ‘breach of contract and unjust enrichment’ after millions of gowns could not be used.

The National Crime Agency also opened a case in May 2021 looking into the procurement of deals, interviewing the pair under caution over allegations of conspiracy to defraud, fraud by false representation and bribery.

Baroness Mone and her lawyers repeatedly insisted she and Mr Barrowman, 58, had nothing to do with the company or the process of awarding the contracts.

In December last year she took a leave of absence from the House of Lords which her legal team said was to ‘clear her name of the allegations that have been unjustly levelled against her’.

In her BBC interview at the weekend she said: ‘I don’t honestly see that there is a case to answer. I can’t see what we have done wrong.’

After repeated denials over the years from her lawyers, she admitted lying to the Press but told Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg: ‘That’s not a crime.’

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