Michelle Mone has said she is “ashamed” to be a Tory peer as she admitted making an “error” in the PPE Medpro scandal by initially denying involvement with the firm.
However the Glasgow-born lingerie entrepreneur insisted she and her husband, the billionaire Douglas Barrowman, had done “nothing wrong”.
Baroness Mone, who was made a peer by David Cameron 2015, broke her silence over the PPE Medpro affair in a YouTube documentary funded by the company.
The firm won a £122m contract for 25m surgical gowns and an £80.8m contract for 210m facemasks during the Covid pandemic after she recommended it through the so-called High Priority, or “VIP Lane”, a few days after it was set up in May 2020.
The UK Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) claims the gowns were not fit for purpose as they were single-wrapped, not double-wrapped to ensure they were sterile.
PPE Medpro, which denies the gowns were unuseable, is now being sued by the UK Government for £122m plus costs for "breach of contract and unjust enrichment".
It is also being investigated by the National Crime Agency.
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Baroness Mone, 52, has now used the documentary to fight back and deny wrongdoing.
Through her lawyer, she initially denied being connected “in any way with PPE Medpro”, while her husband, 58, denied being an investor in the company or the consortium behind it.
However last month the couple’s spokesperson said Mr Barrowman had been the “chairman and leader of the PPE Medpro consortium”, that he had financed through his “family office”, and the couple fully disclosed their involvement to the Cabinet Office before the PPE deals.
The Guardian reported last year that leaked HSBC bank documents indicated Mr Barrowman was paid at least £65m from PPE Medpro’s profits, then transferred £29m into a trust for Baroness Mone and her three adult children.
In the documentary, Baroness Mone admitted: “I made an error in what I said to the press.
“I regret not saying to the press straight away, ‘Yes, I am involved.’ And the Government knew I was involved.”
She claimed it was “100% a lie” to suggest she was not transparent with officials.
The couple also claimed a “DHSC negotiator” suggested the case could “go away” for the right sum during mediation talks.
She claimed the Isle of Man-based couple were "sick and tired of reading all the lies every single day in the media", and she was struggling with her mental health.
She said: "I am a very, very strong woman. I'm seeing a doctor and on medication and everything else, which I'm very against, but yeah, I needed it."
Asked if she would win the legal fight over the contract, she said: "Yeah, we will win, because we did nothing wrong. It's cruel and it's nasty, but we will win."
Asked if she tried to defraud the DHSC, she said: "Absolutely not. How can I defraud them when they knew I was involved?
“There's over 1,400 emails and communication on WhatsApps and phone calls.
“How can they say they didn't know I was involved? They knew everything."
She said she put PPE Medpro forward, but those behind the firm "got the contracts on their own merits".
Denying she got favourable treatment because of her peerage, she said she was "a conduit" and "a liaison person", adding: "I brought it all together. I wanted the guys to succeed. I wanted the NHS to succeed. I wanted a win-win situation for everyone.
"Both myself and my husband declared our interest, and if they had any issue with that whatsoever, when they knew of my involvement and my husband's involvement, why did they ever give the contracts in the first place?
“They must have been satisfied, and they knew everything."
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She insisted the reported £65m in profits that PPE Medpro made from the Government contracts was "not my money" and who benefitted was at her husband's discretion.
She admitted she "may indirectly benefit" as Barrowman’s wife, but insisted: “It's not my money."
She also told the Sunday Telegraph that PPE Medpro had been singled out and made a scapegoat while other firms with PPE issues were left alone.
“I am ashamed of being a Conservative peer given what this Government has done to us,” she said.
Baroness Mone of Mayfair is currently on a "leave of absence" from the Lords, where she made five speeches between 2016 and 2020, one in each year.
Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove, who allegedly had involvement in the contract process, insisted that “ministers did not take individual decisions” on pandemic contracts.
He told the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg show: “Those decisions were taken after a painstaking process by teams of civil servants who assess the worthiness of any contract that’s put forward.
“So the suggestion, which some have put forward, that somehow ministers were seeking deliberately to do favours, or line the pockets of other individuals, I think is totally unjustified because the decisions were only taken after a proper, coherent and fair procurement process.
“As with any procurement process, might it sometimes be the case that the goods which have been bought turn out to not to be adequate – that is deeply regrettable but that is a consequence of what happened at pressure.”
Scottish Tory chair Craig Hoy was also asked on BBC Scotland’s Sunday Show if his party should regret giving Ms Mone a peerage.
He said: "There's no point going back to that.
"Michelle Mone has made her position clear. There are serious allegations that have been made and it would only be right and proper that she's entitled to defend herself."
"I wasn't responsible for making her a peer. What has happened has happened.
“There are serious questions to be asked and answered and I hope she’ll do that in short order.”
The DHSC said its staff adhered to all laws and regulations, adding: 'We do not comment on ongoing legal cases.'
The NCA said it was “operationally independent of government, and our investigations are intelligence-led”.
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