Rachel Reeves has said Michelle Mone should be kicked out of the House of Lords after a firm linked to the Tory peer was told to pay back £122million for breaching a contract to supply medical kit during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Baroness Mone – who rose to fame as the creator of the Ultimo bra company – has been embroiled in controversy for years over the PPE equipment her husband Doug Barrowman’s company, PPE Medpro supplied to the Government during the outbreak.
The company won a lucrative contract to supply 25 million surgical gowns, allegedly after improper lobbying of the Government by the Baroness, without declaring an interest.
The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) sued, claiming the gowns were not sterile. The firm now has about two weeks to pay back the cash after a judge ruled it had breached its contract with the government.
Meanwhile, a criminal investigation and a House of Lords inquiry into the alleged scandal are both ongoing.
The Chancellor today lashed out, saying she hoped Baroness Mone – who is on a leave of absence from the Lords – ‘won’t be back’ in the upper chamber after she ‘ripped off taxpayers’.
Lady Mone criticised the High Court judgment, calling it a win for the ‘establishment’, while her husband, Doug Barrowman, said it was a ‘travesty of justice’. The peer has claimed she is the target of a ‘vendetta’ by the Government.
During a Labour party conference fringe event, Ms Reeves reportedly joked about having a vendetta against Lady Mone and Mr Barrowman, saying: ‘Too right we do.’
Speaking on BBC 5 Live about the Tory peer, the Chancellor added: ‘She clearly shouldn’t be in the House of Lords.’
When it was suggested to her that the peer took a leave of absence to clear her name, the Chancellor replied: ‘I hope she won’t be back in the House of Lords.’
Ms Reeves said ‘I’m not sure if that’s within my powers’ in response to calls for Lady Mone to be stripped of her title, adding: ‘Clearly she shouldn’t be making laws, should she?’
Peerages can only be removed by an act of Parliament.
While a life peerage cannot be relinquished, Lady Mone could choose to resign from being a member of the House of Lords.
Ms Reeves, who has been leading work within Government to claw back money lost during the pandemic, also said it was ‘disappointing’ that PPE Medpro went into administration.
She said: ‘I think it tells you a lot about the company that instead of saying sorry and paying back the money, they’ve gone into administration, but we will now work with the administrators and all different authorities to do everything we can to get that money back, because that money belongs in our schools, in our hospitals and in our communities and I will do everything in my power to get that money back.’
Ms Reeves said the High Court ruling was ‘a vindication of this Government’s belief that many of these contracts done during the pandemic ripped off taxpayers and the £122 million is a vindication on that’.
Lady Mone, who created the lingerie brand Ultimo, which she sold in 2014, was made a Conservative peer by David Cameron in 2015.
In her 87-page ruling, Mrs Justice Cockerill said today the gowns made by her husband’s firm during the pandemic ‘were not, contractually speaking, sterile, or properly validated as being sterile’.
She said: ‘That means that they could not be used as sterile gowns in the NHS or elsewhere.’
Reacting to the news, Lady Mone said: ‘Today’s judgment against PPE Medpro is shocking but all too predictable.
‘It is nothing less than an establishment win for the Government in a case that was too big for them to lose.’
Cabinet minister Ms Reeves hit back: ‘I think it is a little bit rich for Baroness Michelle Mone, who got a contract through the Conservative government’s VIP fast lane, to complain that this is an establishment stitch-up.
‘What was a stitch-up was the VIP fast line in the first place.’
Health Secretary Wes Streeting said: ‘PPE Medpro put NHS staff and patients in danger with substandard kit whilst lining their own pockets with taxpayers’ money at a time of national crisis.
‘Today’s court ruling makes clear we won’t stand for it and we’re coming after every penny owed to our NHS.
‘This Government will ruthlessly pursue any company which tried to exploit the pandemic for their own ends while our health service was fighting to save lives.’
PPE Medpro, a consortium led by Mr Barrowman, was awarded Government contracts by the former Conservative administration to supply personal protective equipment (PPE) during the pandemic, after Lady Mone recommended it to ministers.
She then acted as the firm’s ‘big gun’ in talks with officials to help get the contract over the line.
In her 87-page ruling, Mrs Justice Cockerill said the gowns ‘were not, contractually speaking, sterile, or properly validated as being sterile’, which meant they could not be used in the NHS.
Lady Mone played a significant role in securing the contract for PPE Medpro as the Government scrambled to secure supplies of protective equipment from around the world.
She referred the firm to the ‘high priority lane’, which managed recommendations from MPs, ministers and officials, on the day PPE Medpro was incorporated in May 2020.
The contract was awarded despite concerns being raised about the ‘potential for conflict of interest’ given the Tory peer’s husband was involved with the firm.
The judge said Lady Mone facilitated a call between DHSC and PPE Medpro officials during contract negotiations, and ‘took up the fight’ for the company in talks with the Cabinet Office.
Barristers for PPE Medpro told the trial it had been ‘singled out for unfair treatment’ and accused the Government of ‘buyer’s remorse’, claiming the gowns became defective because of the conditions in which they were kept, after being delivered to the DHSC.
Mrs Justice Cockerill found PPE Medpro had breached the contract.
She said the DHSC was entitled to the price of the gowns as damages, but not the costs of storing the items.
The judge said the money must be paid by 4pm on October 15.
Mr Barrowman said: ‘Today, a travesty of justice took place following the judgment of Lady Justice Cockerill.
‘She gave the DHSC (Department of Health and Social Care) an establishment win despite the mountain of evidence in court against such a judgment.
‘Her judgment bears little resemblance to what actually took place during the month-long trial, where PPE Medpro convincingly demonstrated that its gowns were sterile.
‘This judgment is a whitewash of the facts and shows that justice was being seen to be done, where the outcome was always certain for the DHSC and the Government.’
The Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice UK campaign group welcomed the court ruling and called for Lady Mone to be stripped of her title.
