Tory peer Michelle Mone posted videos of her and her billionaire husband clapping for the NHS at the same time she was lobbying for PPE deals from which it is claimed she appears to have received millions of pounds.
New leaked documents suggest that an offshore trust linked to Baroness Mone received £29m which seem to have originated as profits from more than £200m in PPE deals she promoted through the Government’s VIP lane, according to the Guardian.
HSBC bank documents leaked to the newspaper allegedly show that £65m in profits from the PPE deal was paid into a trust benefitting Mone’s husband Doug Barrowman in September 2020.
It is claimed that £45.8m was then transferred out of The Warren Trust to Barrowman’s personal bank account, before £28.8m was transferred in October 2020 to a second trust, called Keristal Trust, which allegedly has Mone and her children as beneficiaries.
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Under the hashtag “#thankyounhs”, Mone posted weekly clapping videos on Instagram through April and May 2020 stating: “Thank you for everything you have done and are doing at this time to keep us all safe and going.”
At the same time, Mone was lobbying the Government over the PPE deals, which she failed to declare in the House of Lord register of interests. Her lawyer has insisted this was because “she did not benefit financially and was not connected to PPE Medpro in any capacity”.
The bank account for the Keristal Trust, the leaks reveal, was opened in May 2020, at the height of the first lockdown, while the couple joined millions of others clapping for the NHS every Thursday.
That same month, Mone had told then Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove that she could help with the PPE crisis facing the NHS.
Gove, now Levelling Up Secretary, told Sky News today: “I do remember. The thing about Baroness Mone is that, as you know, she’s a strong personality … I remember that she was keen to ensure that PPE which the government needed at that time was provided.
“What I can recall is that she said there was an organisation that she believed would be able to provide PPE for the government.” He said he passed on her contact details “as I did with lots of people”.
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One video, posted on May 7, shows the couple in front of Barrowman’s nine-bedroom Isle of Man mansion.
The following day, Mone contacted fellow Tory peer Theodore Agnew, the minister in charge of procurement, by private email, copying in Gove. She offered to supply large quantities of PPE face masks, saying they could be sourced through “my team in Hong Kong”.
Four days later on May 12, Anthony Page, who had been the company secretary of Mone’s company MGM Media, managing her “brand”, helped set up PPE Medpro Limited, the company which would go on to win the £203m of covid contracts for face masks and gowns.
That same day was International Nurses Day and Mone posted on Instagram: “I’d just like to thank each and everyone of you that have served our NHS past and present, you all do such an incredible job. Thank You.”
On May 28, Mone posted the final clapping video and wrote: “Although this is our last Thursday evening clapping for the NHS, I’m pretty sure I speak on behalf of everyone when I say we will never forget how you and all our key workers went above and beyond to make sure our country carried on.”
By the end of June, PPE Medpro had secured both Department of Health contracts. Leaked WhatsApp messages allegedly show Mone replying to questions from someone in the supply chain asking about the sizes of the surgical gowns: “We are just about to take off in the jet. The sizes are in the order. We are waiting for the official [purchase order], this should come in today.” Mone’s lawyers later said she could not comment on “unknown and unattributable WhatsApp messages” sent nearly two years earlier.
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In October 2020, the Mirror first revealed the links between Mone and PPE Medpro.
Her office told us: “Baroness Mone has no comment as she has no role or involvement in PPE Medpro. Mr Barrowman is also not involved in the company PPE Medpro and is not a Director or Shareholder.”
It supplied a quote from Mone: “Well done to PPE Medpro in supplying vital equipment to the NHS to fight this dreadful virus!”
The National Crime Agency is investigating the PPE Medpro deal and in April this year raided the Isle of Man mansion along with other properties, including their London home.
Asked about the latest allegations of payments to her and Barrowman, a lawyer for Mone told the Guardian: “There are a number of reasons why our client cannot comment on these issues and she is under no duty to do so.”
The newspaper was told “that there is much inaccuracy in the portrayal of the alleged ‘facts’ and a number of them are completely wrong”, without specifying which ones.
Mone is facing a separate investigation by the Lords Commissioner for Standards into whether she breached the conduct rules by failing to register an interest in the company and by lobbying for it to be awarded government contracts. She has denied wrongdoing.
Meanwhile, the UK government is continuing its attempt to recover money from PPE Medpro in relation to the unused gowns through a dispute resolution process, but the firm insists the gowns purchased through the £122m contract passed inspection.
Labour Deputy Leader Angela Rayner told the House of Commons today: “It now appears that tens of millions of pounds of that ended up in offshore accounts connected to the individuals involved – profits made possible through the company’s personal connections to Tory ministers and the Tory VIP lane that was declared illegal by the High Court.
“Yet ministers are still refusing to publish correspondence relating to the award of the Medpro contract because they say the department is involved in the mediation process.”
Neil O’Brien, minister at the Department of Health and Social Care, said: “We haven’t got to the point where a satisfactory agreement has been reached at this stage.”
He said of the ‘VIP lane’: “Let me be clear, it didn’t give any guarantee of a successful contract. 90% of the bids that went through it weren’t successful.”