- Michelle Mone accused of profiting from business she suggested for Covid contract.
- PPE Medpro, which received government contracts during the pandemic, has ties to Baroness Mone.
- Labor deputy leader said PM Rishi Sunak was “too weak” to remove her Conservative whip.
Michelle Mone, a Tory lord, will ask for a leave of absence from the Lords “to clear her name” following accusations that she profited from a business she suggested for a Covid contract.
She would not be able to vote in any proceedings, attend House sessions, or make any allowance claims.
PPE Medpro, which received government contracts during the pandemic, has ties to Baroness Mone.
According to her spokesman, the accusations were “unjustly levelled against her.”
Her spokeswoman stated that Baroness Mone made the decision to apply for a leave of absence.
The Lords authorities could deny her request, but if it is granted, she is exempt from registering any changes to her financial interests.
After receiving a formal request, a decision would be taken, according to a House of Lords spokesman.
Baroness Mone, a member of the House of Lords since 2015, has not participated in a vote or spoken in a debate since April of this year.
Labour’s deputy leader Angela Rayner said Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was “too weak” to remove the whip from Baroness Mone – which would mean she was expelled from the parliamentary party – and had left her “to finally read the writing on the wall”.
In addition, Daisy Cooper, the deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats, demanded that Mr. Sunak revoke the whip given to Baroness Mone, saying: “This is further evidence, if any were needed, that Sunak’s vow of honesty has been reduced to dust.”
Because PPE Medpro and the Department of Health are still in the middle of a mediation procedure, Downing Street declined to comment on Baroness Mone’s choice.
A representative for No. 10 stated that the whips would decide if she should be kicked out of the parliamentary Conservative party.
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PPE Medpro received two government contracts for £203 million between May and June 2020 to provide masks and scrubs.
Unusually, the business had only been around for a few weeks when it signed the first of these contracts.
PPE Medpro said at the time that it had delivered 100% of the contract to the terms specified and that it had supplied equipment “fully in accordance with the agreed contract, which included clear terms as to technical specification and performance criteria of the products”.
Glasgow-born businesswoman Baroness Mone is being investigated by the Lords commissioner for standards over her “alleged involvement” in procuring contracts for the company.
However, the commissioner says he is unable to finalize or publish his report because “the matter is under investigation by the police or another agency as part of a criminal investigation”.
Baroness Mone referred the business to a government minister during the pandemic, according to emails made public through the Freedom of Information Act.
Last month, Labor charged that the government’s decision to give the contracts to PPE Medpro constituted a “complete lack of due diligence” and a “conflict of interest.”
It was in response to a Guardian inquiry into whether Baroness Mone had profited financially from the business, which was based on leaked papers.
Apparently “tens of millions of pounds” of the funds granted to the company “ended up in offshore accounts connected to the persons involved,” Ms. Rayner told MPs.
When Baroness Mone’s lawyers were questioned in December 2020 over rumors that she was connected to the business, they informed Media that she “had no part or function in PPE Medpro, nor in the process by which contracts were allocated to PPE Medpro.”
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