Michelle Mone: Tory peer speaks out on 'five years of torture' in PPE scandal 'poster couple' claims
Scottish businesswoman Baroness Michelle Mone has attacked the UK government in a lengthy post on X
Baroness Michelle Mone has claimed UK ministers made her and her husband a “poster couple for the PPE scandal” as she said she had been through “five years of pure torture”.
The Scottish businesswoman and life peer alleged the UK government had turned down multi-million pound offers to settle a High Court legal battle with a company she is linked with.
PPE Medpro, a consortium led by Baroness Mone’s husband, businessman Doug Barrowman, is being sued by the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) over allegations it breached a contract for 25 million surgical gowns during the coronavirus pandemic.
Lawyers for the government told a trial earlier this year that it was entitled to recover the £121 million cost of the contract, which the company opposes.
Court records showed PPE Medpro filed a “notice of appointment to appoint an administrator” on Tuesday.
In a lengthy post on social media, Baroness Mone said it was “time for the public to know the truth”.
“Since December 2022, my husband Doug and PPE Medpro have worked tirelessly with the DHSC to resolve this dispute,” she said.
“Doug’s position has always been clear: PPE Medpro supplied sterile gowns manufactured at seven fully accredited sterilisation plants in China, the same facilities relied upon by governments and suppliers worldwide, including UK companies.
“Are the DHSC really suggesting that all seven of these internationally approved facilities somehow failed? It is essential to note that PPE Medpro successfully delivered 210 million masks, which were accepted and utilised within the NHS.
“At the time, the department was even discussing ordering further gowns from the company, after the original gowns had been received, checked and paid for. These are not the actions of a bad supplier; they are the actions of one that fulfilled its contracts.”
Baroness Mone said the legal battle between the UK government and the consortium was “never about gowns or money” but “has always been about politics and blame-shifting”.
“Doug and I have been deliberately scapegoated and vilified in an orchestrated campaign designed to distract from catastrophic mismanagement of PPE procurement,” she said on X.
“The Government decided to make us the poster couple for the PPE scandal, a convenient distraction to take the blame off them. Meanwhile, the public can see with their own eyes images of PPE worth billions dumped in fields and warehouses across the country.
“That is the real scandal. It is also worth asking: why is PPE Medpro the only company being taken to court? PPE Medpro delivered products manufactured to internationally recognised standards, yet many other suppliers who ran off with deposits or provided defective goods face no action. Singling out one company in this way is not justice; it is scapegoating.”
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