THE BBC received more than 150 complaints linked to “bias” in favour of Michelle Mone and her husband Douglas Barrowman after the couple’s interview with Laura Kuenssberg.
The formerly Tory baroness appeared on the BBC’s flagship Sunday politics show on December 17, using the platform to claim she and Barrowman had been made “scapegoats” for the UK Government’s wider failings over PPE supply in the pandemic.
Mone admitted that she stands to benefit from some £60 million in profit from a contract between the Tory government and PPE Medpro, a firm she recommended to Conservative ministers through the unlawful “VIP lane” for Covid contracts.
She also confirmed that she had spent years lying to the press about her involvement with the company.
In a report published before the Christmas season, the BBC said it had received 168 complaints about the interview.
The report states that the complaints referred to it being “inappropriate to interview Michelle Mone and Doug Barrowman/bias in their favour”.
After the interview, The New European newspaper said it is planning to sue Mone in a bid to recover money spent responding to her legal “threats” over its reporting of her involvement in a PPE procurement scandal.
The weekly publication said it was working with the legal campaign group Good Law Project, had instructed lawyers, and expected to begin its case against the formerly Tory peer early in the new year.
In a story on its website, the publisher said: “An action of this sort is highly unusual but The New European and Good Law Project believe it is necessary to put those making baseless defamation claims at risk.
“High net-worth individuals cannot be given a free hit against media organisations or campaigners to silence their reporting.”
The New European said it believed other publications and freelance reporters “have also spent time, money or both dealing with defamation threats connected to their reporting of PPE Medpro”.
It added: “The case will seek to establish whether there is a legal mechanism to recover those costs where deceit is proven.”
A statement provided by Mone’s private office said: “The New European published inaccurate and untrue stories about Baroness Mone.
“It is now laughable that they want to sue her; this is nothing more than a shallow attempt to generate their own publicity and fuel a media furore in a pathetic attempt to boost their poor readership numbers.
“Baroness Mone’s legal team are looking forward to receiving their letter and will seek back from them all legal costs wasted in responding.”
Mone has said ministers knew about her involvement with PPE Medpro “from the very beginning”.
She also accused Cabinet minister Michael Gove of overseeing “huge waste in PPE contracts”.
