Michelle Mone: the 'worst PR comeback since Prince Andrew'?

Michelle Mone has admitted that she will benefit from millions of pounds of profit from selling protective equipment to the UK government during the Covid-19 pandemic, having previously denied any involvement in the deal. 

Speaking to the BBC's "Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg", Mone said she had repeatedly lied to the press over her involvement with PPE Medpro and confirmed that she and her family stood to benefit from £60 million in profits from the deal.

Lying to the press 'not a crime', says Mone

The Conservative peer and her husband, Doug Barrowman, apologised for denying their role in the deal for more than three years. But Mone also told the programme: "I don't honestly see there is a case to answer. I can't see what we have done wrong." 

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She claimed her life had been "destroyed" by allegations about their PPE profits, adding that "we've only done one thing, which was lie to the press to say we weren't involved", which, she said, "was not a crime".

PPE Medpro secured over £200 million worth of government contracts to provide PPE to the NHS during the pandemic through a controversial "VIP lane" intended to streamline supplier selection. In November 2021, the government revealed that Mone was the "source of referral" for PPE Medpro's placement in the VIP lane.

Despite millions of its gowns ending up not being used, the company has insisted it fulfilled its contractual terms. The UK government is suing PPE Medpro for £122 million, alleging "breach of contract and unjust enrichment". 

The couple confirmed they are still being investigated by the National Crime Agency over allegations of fraud and bribery, which they deny.

Mone took a leave of absence from the House of Lords in December 2022, saying she wanted to "clear her name", said Sky News. And the Tory life peer is also under investigation by the Lords for not declaring her interest in PPE Medpro. 

Mone and Barrowman displayed 'astounding' arrogance

"I'm not sure who's advising Baroness Mone and her hubby Doug Barrowman these days," but "whoever is at the ignoble lady's elbow these days isn't serving her interests terribly well", said Sean O'Grady in The Independent. He described the couple's interview with Laura Kuenssberg as the "worst PR comeback since Prince Andrew".

The public needed answers over where the £200 million in taxpayers' money went, what happened to the £60 million in profits, and what the couple's role really involved. The problem for "Mr & Mrs Dodgy PPE" was that Kuenssberg was "scrupulously fair" in her approach to the interview – which only gave the pair "more than sufficient high-quality rope with which to hang what remains of their reputations".

Just like with Emily Maitlis's "Newsnight" encounter with Prince Andrew, "all Kuenssberg needed to do with such a pair of self-entitled, deluded and greedy personalities was to sit there and pitch some straightforward queries about the facts, with a modicum of polite persistence", said O'Grady. 

Indeed, only minutes into the interview, the phrase "Prince Andrew" began trending on social media, said Steve Anglesey in The New European. "This was not a sign that things had gone well." 

"I wasn't trying to pull the wool over anyone's eyes," said Mone, despite having admitted to the programme that she lied to journalists for years over her links to PPE Medpro, "including those from the New European, which she threatened to sue".

The couple displayed "astounding" arrogance, continued the newspaper. Perhaps Mone and Barrowman took "expensive legal advice to come up with the lame, contradictory guff they spouted". If that's the case, then "they have wasted some of their millions". 

"Lady Mone is right about one thing: it is 'not a crime' to lie to the media," said Alison Rowat in The Herald. "But it is an extremely risky and unwise thing to do, as she is now finding out."

And by lying to the press, Mone and Barrowman "have already delayed the investigations against them", said Ros Taylor for the i news site. Now they face one question that no inquiry or legal investigation can answer. "Is it a moral thing to do to milk the health service for £60m during a pandemic?" asked Taylor.  

"And if the answer is no, we need to ask another urgent question. What kind of country allows Michelle Mone to take an indefinite leave of absence from its parliament so that she can 'clear her name'?".