17 December 2023 , 12:15
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Tory peer Baroness Michelle Mone squirmed as she was finally forced to concede she stands to benefit from huge PPE contracts in a brutal interview with the BBC's Laura Kuenssberg.
Mone admitted lying to the press about her role in the awarding of over £200million of contracts to PPE Medpro - but maintained she has "no case to answer" in an ongoing fraud investigation. Her husband, Doug Barrowman, claimed they were being made into the "Bonnie and Clyde" of PPE.
The National Crime Agency (NCA) has been investigating their role in the contract, and Mone is suspected of conspiracy to defraud, fraud by false representation and bribery. She denies all the allegations and insists she has done nothing wrong. On top of that she is being probed in the House of Lords. Mone hit back: "I don’t honestly see there’s a case to answer. I can’t see what we’ve done wrong."
She insisted that she and her children hadn't benefited from the award of the contracts, telling Ms Kuenssberg: "It’s my husband’s money. It’s his money. It’s not my money and it’s not my children’s."
Mone and husband Doug Barrowman hit back at the allegations they face (BBC)The Baroness, who was elevated to the House of Lords by David Cameron in 2015, said she's been "vilified" and stated that she and her husband Doug Barrowman are "scapegoats".
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She shot back at the suggestion she and her children have benefited from the money - but the couple eventually admitted this could change in the long run. Mr Barrowman said: "Ultimately one day, because I am not going to be on the planet for ever, someone is going to benefit from a lifetime in business and experience.
"Ultimately, if I’m married to Michelle, and ultimately, I’m going to generate profits, then ultimately, Michelle, in some shape or form, is going to indirectly benefit. And actually, if I die, one day in the future, she’s going to directly benefit."
But he said Mone has no access to around £60million in profits, which is being held in trusts. Half of this is in a trust called Keristal, from which Mone and her children stand to benefit - unless she and Mr Barrowman divorce. Ms Kuenssberg pressed: "Your family as a unit will benefit from that cash. Why didn’t you just be more straightforward about it?"
In response the Tory peer shot back: "I am being straightforward about it now Laura. I’m saying to you that I didn’t receive that cash. That cash is not my cash, that cash is my husband’s cash, we are married."
Mone also faces a probe in the House of Lords (PA)But she said that if Mr Barrowman dies before her, she will gain from the contracts. She said: “If one day, if God forbid, my husband passes away before me, then I am a beneficiary, as well as his children and my children, so yes, of course.”
She also claimed that other Lords and Baronesses were acting in the same way. It comes after the first court hearing in a legal battle between the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) and the firm. The Government awarded it two contracts, including one worth £122million for 25 million gowns. But it says these were not fit for use - which PPE Medpro denies - and were never used.
Mone said she was responding to a national "call to arms" when she put in a call to Tory minister Michael Gove offering PPE Medpro's services. The firm was set up in May 2020, and was awarded the huge contract, and another worth £81million for supplying face masks - the following month after Mone referred it to a Government "VIP lane".
But she maintained she and Mr Barrowman have "done a lot of good", adding: "If we were to say anything that we have done, that we are sorry for, and that’s we should have told the press straight up, straight away, nothing to hide." She added: "I’m sorry for that, but I wasn’t trying to pull the wool over anyone’s eyes. No one."
Ms Kuenssberg told her that she'd said "again and again" that she wasn't linked to PPE Medpro, and lawyers had even said it would be "defamatory". The BBC journalist said: "This wasn’t just a slip up. You didn’t tell the truth for months on end."
Mr Barrowman said officials signed off and said the couple had been open about their roles during the contract process. He said: "I’m the entrepreneur, I’m leading the consortium, I’m funding the consortium, she’s doing her level best to make sure that the Government get what they want, and obviously she was a conduit, a liaison with the consortium."
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Lashing out at the Government, Mr Barrowman said there were no issues with the quality of items provided by PPE Medpro, adding: "I think they wanted to hold us out as the Bonnie and Clyde of PPE, it suited the narrative, they have had a one way ticket to push that narrative because we’ve not fought back in two years."
Asked if he had significant control over the company he said: "What I am is somebody who is a beneficiary of the trust that owns PPE Medpro. So, what that means is I suppose, I’m the ultimate beneficial owner, a UBO, but that’s a technical question you’d have to ask my accountants and family people – family office people."
And Mone said: "I was just acting the same way as every other baroness and lord who were also putting names forward." She continued: "The reason why Doug and I are sitting here is because we've been scapegoats and they've destroyed our lives... the narrative suits them to attack us." She claimed to have been "vilified" and claimed: "We've done one thing which is lie to the press and say we weren't involved."
Quizzed about her claim that she's being scapegoated, Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden told Sky News: "I don't accept that. What I would say is that there is an ongoing investigation by both the National Crime Agency and, indeed, the Department of Health is suing the company concerned in civil litigation. So, there's a limit to what I can say, but I don't recognise that."
Mone - who was elevated to the Lords by former Tory PM David Cameron - is facing a separate investigation by the Lords Commissioner for Standards. This is looking 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.
In December, Mone’s spokesperson announced she was taking a leave of absence from the House of Lords “in order to clear her name of the allegations that have been unjustly levelled against her”.