PPE Medpro: Labour told to banish Michelle Mone from House of Lords after High Court ruling

The High Court on Wednesday ordered PPE Medpro to repay the money to the UK government for breaching a contract to supply 25 million surgical gowns during the Covid pandemic.

The company is led by Baroness Mone’s husband Doug Barrowman. PPE Medpro was awarded the government contract after Baroness Mone recommended the move to ministers.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves said 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”.

But Baroness Mone criticised the High Court judgment, calling it a win for the “establishment”, while her husband described the ruling as a “travesty of justice”. The peer, who is on a leave of absence from the Lords, has claimed she is the target of a “vendetta” by the government.

Her criticism came as the SNP called for the Scottish businesswoman to be removed from the House of Lords, as she is still able to claim expenses as a peer at the cost of taxpayers. Peerages can only be removed by an act of parliament.

Pete Wishart, deputy SNP Westminster leader, said: “We now have a ruling on the Michelle Mone PPE scandal and now is the time for the Labour government to act - they must strip Ms Mone of her peerage.

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“The Lords is expensive enough. Michelle Mone cannot continue to have access to unfettered expenses at great cost to the public.

“The Labour Party has repeatedly broken its promise to abolish the House of Lords for more than a century and this latest scandal demonstrates exactly why this archaic institution that sponsors cronyism and elitism should have gone long ago.

“Peerages can only be removed by an act of parliament - and it’s time for the Labour government to take action.”

Ms Reeves told BBC 5 Live the 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”. She added of Baroness Mone: “She clearly shouldn’t be in the House of Lords.”

But pushed on whether she could personally strip the businesswoman of her peerage, Ms Reeves said: “I’m not sure if that’s within my powers.”

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.”

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.

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.

The judge said Baroness Mone facilitated a call between the Department of Health and Social Care (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.

The Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice UK campaign group welcomed the court ruling and called for Baroness Mone to be stripped of her title.

Scottish Greens constitutional spokesperson Patrick Harvie said the court judgment involving Baroness Mone underlined why the House of Lords was totally unfit for purpose.

“Michelle Mone is a glaring symbol of everything that is wrong with the House of Lords and why it must finally be scrapped,” he said.

The DHSC sued PPE Medpro, saying the “faulty” gowns the company provided were not sterile. Both Baroness Mone and Mr Barrowman have denied any wrongdoing. Neither gave evidence at the trial in June.

UK 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.”

Baroness Mone described the judgement against PPE Medpro as “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,” she said.

In a written statement, her husband Mr Barrowman said: “Today, a travesty of justice took place following the judgement of Lady Justice Cockerill. She gave the Department of Health and Social Care an establishment win despite the mountain of evidence in court against such a judgement.

“Her judgement bears little resemblance to what actually took place during the month-long trial, where PPE Medpro convincingly demonstrated that its gowns were sterile.

“This judgement is a whitewash of the facts and shows that justice was being seen to be done, where the outcome was always certain for the Department of Health and Social Care and the government. The case was simply too big for the government to lose.”

Baroness Mone, who hails from Dennistoun and created the lingerie brand Ultimo, which she sold in 2014, was made a Conservative peer by former prime minister David Cameron in 2015.

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.

Last year Baroness Mone was stripped of the Conservative whip and has been on leave from the House of Lords ever since. PPE Medpro remains under investigation by the National Crime Agency.

Baroness Mone previously supported the Labour Party, but defected to the Conservatives in 2010 and backed the union in the 2014 independence referendum.

Leaked documents suggest Mr Barrowman made a £65m profit from the PPE Medpro deals, £29m of which was paid into a trust of which Baroness Mone and her three children are beneficiaries.