Tory peer Michelle Mone secretly received £29m from ‘VIP lane’ PPE firm

The Conservative peer Michelle Mone and her children secretly received £29m originating from the profits of a PPE business that was awarded large government contracts after she recommended it to ministers, documents seen by the Guardian indicate.

Lady Mone’s support helped the company, PPE Medpro, secure a place in a “VIP lane” the government used during the coronavirus pandemic to prioritise companies that had political connections. It then secured contracts worth more than £200m.

Documents seen by the Guardian indicate tens of millions of pounds of PPE Medpro’s profits were later transferred to a secret offshore trust of which Mone and her adult children were the beneficiaries.

Asked by the Guardian last year why Mone did not include PPE Medpro in her House of Lords register of financial interests, her lawyer replied: “Baroness Mone did not declare any interest as she did not benefit financially and was not connected to PPE Medpro in any capacity.”

The leaked documents, which were produced by the bank HSBC, appear to contradict that statement. They state that Mone’s husband, the Isle of Man-based financier Douglas Barrowman, was paid at least £65m in profits from PPE Medpro, and then distributed the funds through a series of offshore accounts, trusts and companies.

The ultimate recipients of the funds, the documents indicate, include the Isle of Man trust that was set up to benefit Mone, who was Barrowman’s fiancee at the time, and her children. In October 2020, the documents add, Barrowman transferred to the trust £28.8m originating from PPE Medpro profits.

That was just five months after Mone helped PPE Medpro secure contracts to supply masks and sterile gowns for use in the NHS.

Mone, 51, and Barrowman, 57, have over the last two years repeatedly insisted they had no “involvement” in PPE Medpro, and “no role” in the process through which the company was awarded its government contracts. PPE Medpro has repeatedly refused to identify its mystery backers, but denied it was awarded contracts because of “company or personal connections” to the UK government or Conservative party.

The Guardian’s latest revelation – that the peer and her husband secretly amassed an offshore fortune on the back of PPE Medpro profits – could prove the most consequential for Mone, who has already been placed under investigation by the House of Lords commissioner for standards.

Separately, PPE Medpro has become the subject of a potential fraud investigation by the National Crime Agency. In April this year, NCA officers searched several addresses, including the mansion Mone and Barrowman occupy in the Isle of Man. At the time, lawyers for PPE Medpro declined to comment on the NCA investigation.

People like Mone should be charged, tried and harshly punished … :angry:

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Oh I agree. Disgusting greedy people like this should be held accountable :rage:

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I doubt she’s the only one but that is appalling and she’s behaved disgracefully

Truly disgusting, vile people :face_with_symbols_over_mouth:

I don’t know how it could be done but she should get chucked out of the House of Lords in shame

The old man and me are up for going round and doing that physically if required

What a despicable lot these Tories were during Covid, they really showed their true colours. I hope karma catches up with them and they suffer

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Quite … :+1:

IMO, both Johnson and Hancock should be brought to book and charged with criminal negligence along with charges relating to the abuse of position and misuse of public money.

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If the investigation proves Mone has breached the code of conduct, I hope she is expelled from the House of Lords for good - along with any of the other snouts in the trough who are proved to have broken the code of conduct.

I have just read a Wiki summary of Michelle Mone - her history of business dealings seems to be littered with allegations of lies, unethical practices and dodgy dealings.
How did such a person get appointed to the House of Lords in the first place?

Mone was appointed by Cameron. The current system of Prime Ministers appointing their business cronies to the House of Lords really stinks - according to Wiki, even many Conservatives were unhappy about Mone’s appointment.
What does it take to stop PMs from appointing unsuitable people? - I read up on the powers of the House of Lords Appointments Commission, which is supposed to be an “independent body” set up to vet people who are nominated for appointment to the House of Lords.
Apparently, the Commission has no power of veto if they think a PMs nomination is an unsuitable candidate, they can only advise but the PM can ignore their advice.

I don’t think the Commission did unaminously object to Cameron about the appointment of Mone, despite her questionable past dealings.
I think the honour of being the first PM to ignore the Commission’s unanimous objections to their nomination of a peer went to Boris Johnson, when he appointed Peter Cruddas, who had previously been the Tory co-Treasurer and had to resign over a “cash for questions” scandal.
As soon as he got his peerage, he donated half a million quid to the Tory Party - far be it from me to suggest it was a quid pro quo for his peerage!

So many politicians and “political donors” are at it - snouts in the trough. It’s sickening.

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It’s time that we put a few against the wall and shot showered them with rancid meat, fish-guts and rotten vegetables … :wink:

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:rofl::rofl::rofl: Send em all into the Jungle for their “”Summer recess” !

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Off with their greedy fat heads.

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You do get the sense that this ‘fast track’ contracting was interpreted by many in government, or linked to government, as an open invitation to make a few million with their mates. No doubt presuming that in all the chaotic spending by the government that no-one would notice a few hundred million being skimmed off.
Where the audit of all this? Why is there no inquiry into this repeated money for me and my mates?

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Goodness me @Omah, this has got you rattled. Public humiliation in the pillory or stocks a very good idea.

Something dodgy about the whole scheme, all conniving greedy criminals.

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Nobody would be left in the house of commons or lords.

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Appointed by Cameron, that figures.

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There’s always an angle.

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Labour’s deputy leader Angela Rayner has accused the government of a “total failure of due diligence” and a “conflict of interest” when it awarded contracts to get personal protective equipment from a company called PPE Medpro.

Emails released under Freedom of Information laws show Michelle Mone referring the company to a government minister during the pandemic.

Referencing the Guardian story during an urgent question in the House of Commons, Ms Rayner said it appeared “tens of millions of pounds” from the money awarded to the company “ended up in offshore accounts connected to the individuals involved”.

In response, Health Minister Neil O’Brien told MPs it had been widely reported PPE Medpro had an “underperforming contract” and the government could claim for damages, which can be followed by litigation if an agreement isn’t reached.

He said a satisfactory agreement had not been reached with PPE Medpro yet.

Medpro has previously said that its gowns passed technical inspection and met the contractual requirements.

Baroness Mone has previously told the BBC through her lawyers she never had any role or function in the company, or in the process in which contracts were awarded.

Well, she would say that, wouldn’t she … :roll_eyes:

Everywhere you read or watch today people are so fed up with this corrupt and incompetent government, I think if there was to be a general election tomorrow, the Conservative party would cease to exist…

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MP Stuart Robert is under investigation for a similar thing, called corrupt in Parliament

Reading more about Baroness Mone’s self-serving promotion of one PPE supplier it is almost beyond credibility how dirty, shameful and dodgy it all is. She put forward this company 5 days before it was formally registered as a company. So its self evident that she was not recommending it based on its PPE track record. It gained more than one contract for surgical gowns and face masks, totaling £203m. One contract of over £100m for gowns failed to deliver any useable gowns - they failed inspection - but the company still got paid.
But the most dodgy past is the size of the prize for Mone at £29m - a full 15% of the total contracts awarded. If this business could afford 15% as a pay-off then what profit margin were they running at? This smacks of over-pricing on top of back handers.

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Article from BBC, note the date.

Brexit referendum, took place on 23 June 2016.

Was this a subtle hint, for future?

In the summer of 2021, when a traumatised Britain was enduring a third wave of Covid infections as it struggled to emerge from the pandemic, the Conservative peer Michelle Mone posted a photograph on Instagram of herself and her husband, Douglas Barrowman, in the Mediterranean. They were on their new luxury yacht, Lady M.

Mone, 51, who attained celebrity status through her bra and lingerie company, Ultimo, and was appointed to the House of Lords by David Cameron in 2015, told her followers: “Today I’m feeling reflective. I feel so grateful to be where I am, in a beautiful part of the world with the people I love the most. It wasn’t easy. There were some real challenges, both emotionally and physically.

“Business isn’t easy. But it is rewarding.”

So it seems - ill-gotten gains fund a luxury yacht … :roll_eyes:

https://www.superyachttimes.com/yachts/lady-m-39m

A Saloon

Another Saloon

The Stateroom

The Stateroom Bathroom

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Indeed.

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