Conservative peer Michelle Mone has admitted she benefited from £200m in government contracts awarded to PPE Medpro during the Covid pandemic, after years of denials. The company, which was newly formed in 2020, secured contracts to supply 210m face masks for £80.85m and 25m sterile surgical gowns for £122m.
Mone and her husband, Doug Barrowman, repeatedly denied any association with PPE Medpro. In December 2020, a lawyer for the couple said any suggestion of a link was “inaccurate” and “defamatory”. However, leaked documents later revealed that Barrowman received at least £65m from the company’s profits, with £29m transferred to an offshore trust benefiting Mone and her children.
The contracts were processed via the government’s “VIP lane”, which fast-tracked offers from companies with political connections. Mone introduced PPE Medpro to ministers Michael Gove and Lord Agnew in May 2020. The government later rejected the surgical gowns, which were never used by the NHS.
The National Crime Agency is investigating allegations of fraud and bribery, which Mone and Barrowman deny. In April 2022, search warrants were executed at their homes and PPE Medpro’s offices. Mone took a leave of absence from the House of Lords in December 2022.
