Michelle Mone has accused Chancellor Rachel Reeves of using “dangerous and inflammatory” language after a company linked to the peer was ordered to repay £122 million for breaching a Covid-19 PPE contract. In a letter to Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Mone claimed Reeves’s remark about having a “vendetta” against her has increased risks to her personal safety.
At a Labour conference fringe event, Reeves joked about a vendetta and said Mone “shouldn’t be in the House of Lords”. Mone, who has had the Conservative whip suspended, said the term “vendetta” connotes “vengeance, feud and blood feud” and has led to threats and abuse on social media.
PPE Medpro, a company linked to Mone and her husband Doug Barrowman, was ordered to repay nearly £122 million after the High Court ruled it breached a contract to supply 25 million sterile surgical gowns. The court found the gowns were not sterile as required. Mone criticised the judgment as a win for the “establishment”.
Mone has demanded an immediate withdrawal of Reeves’s statement and an independent investigation into whether ministers or officials improperly influenced the National Crime Agency, Crown Prosecution Service, or civil litigation. She also questioned whether Starmer stands by the chancellor’s assertion of a vendetta.
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said Mone had brought “embarrassment and shame” to the party. A Labour source noted that both the chancellor and Conservative leader agree on the matter, suggesting Mone has “lost the argument”.
