PPE Medpro: Firm linked to Tory peer Michelle Mone ordered to repay almost £122m to UK government

The ruling was made in a High Court decision published on Wednesday.

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) sued PPE Medpro, saying the company had provided 25 million “faulty” gowns that were not sterile.

The company, a consortium led by Lady Mone’s husband, businessman Doug Barrowman, was awarded government contracts by the former Conservative administration to supply PPE during the pandemic, after she recommended it to ministers.

Baroness Mone described the judgment as an “establishment win” for the government in a case that was “too big for them to lose”.

She 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.”

Mr Barrowman blasted the PPE Medpro judgment on Wednesday as a “travesty of justice”.

In a written statement, Mr Barrowman, a businessman who led the consortium, said: “Today, a travesty of justice took place following the judgment of Lady Justice Cockerill. She gave the DHSC 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. This case was simply too big for the government to lose.”

Both Baroness Mone and Mr Barrowman had denied wrongdoing and neither gave evidence at the trial in June. Lawyers for the DHSC said they were “not concerned with any profits made by anybody” and stressed the case was “simply about compliance”.

The government wants to recover the costs of the £121m contract, as well as the costs of transporting and storing the items, which amount to an additional £8,648,691.

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The judge’s ruling

Mrs Justice Cockerill, in delivering her ruling on Wednesday, said Baroness Mone had taken “up the fight on behalf of Medpro” with the Cabinet Office as the company sought to agree the contract for 25 million surgical gowns.

The judge said that during the closing stage of contract negotiations, one of PPE Medpro’s directors, Anthony Page, contacted Baroness Mone, who then threatened “further escalation”.

She said: “Mr Page engaged his ‘big gun’ – contacting Baroness Mone who then took up the fight on behalf of Medpro direct with Chris Hall from the Cabinet Office threatening further escalation. Baroness Mone was plainly of the view that there was a contract.”

The judge also said PPE Medpro “claimed to be well established” to the DHSC, and the “years of experience” of Mr Barrowman were “trumpeted”.

She said: “Medpro was presenting itself to DHSC as a worthy entrant into the fast lane for approval as a supplier and aiming to land contracts worth hundreds of millions of pounds of public money. It said repeatedly that it had experience.”

A further hearing is to take place dealing with consequential matters.

Ahead of the ruling, PPE Medpro had filed a “notice of appointment to appoint an administrator” on Tuesday.

Baroness Mone also accused the government of “scapegoating” her and Mr Barrowman in a lengthy post on social media, in which she claimed that the company had offered to settle the case.

She said: “Doug and I have been deliberately scapegoated and vilified in an orchestrated campaign designed to distract from catastrophic mismanagement of PPE procurement.

“The Government decided to make us the poster couple for the PPE scandal, a convenient distraction to take the blame off them.”