FORMER health secretary Matt Hancock has claimed he felt pressured by Tory peer Michelle Mone’s “extraordinarily aggressive” lobbying to help a firm win a contract to supply lateral flow tests.
In his new book, Pandemic Diaries, Hancock says Mone sent him a “threatening message” complaining the company she was helping was yet to secure a deal.
Mone, 51, is currently facing questions over whether or not she benefited to the sum of £29 million from a separate company.
She is currently under investigation by the House of Lords Commissioners for Standards for allegedly failing to declare an interest in the firm PPE Medpro which secured a £200m contract during the pandemic.
In Hancock’s book, currently being serialised in The Daily Mail, he said that by the end of the email Mone had “worked herself into a complete frenzy” and was throwing around “wild accusations”.
In his diaries, he writes: “Baroness Michelle Mone has sent me an extraordinarily aggressive email complaining that a company she’s helping isn’t getting the multi-million-pound contracts it deserves.
“She claims the firm, which makes lateral flow test kits, ‘has had a dreadful time’ trying to cut through red tape and demanded my ‘urgent help’ before it all comes out in the media.
“‘I am going to blow this all wide open,’ she threatened.”
The MP for West Suffolk (below) is also under fire following his recent appearance on ITV’s I’m A Celebrity.
His team have previously said that he has no intention of standing down as an MP at the next General Election.
He then said that Mone complained the US company Innova had secured a “monopoly position” by winning several contracts which subsequently meant other companies “couldn’t get in the game”.
In the book, Hancock adds: “By the end of the message, she seemed to have worked herself into a complete frenzy and was throwing around wild accusations.
“‘I smell a rat here. It is more than the usual red tape, incompetence and bureaucracy. That’s expected! I believe there is corruption here at the highest levels’.”
Hancock said that a further investigation showed the company Mone was referencing had not won any contracts because it failed to pass validation tests.
He said he chose to ignore the message and added: “I will simply not reply … I won’t be pushed around by aggressive peers representing commercial clients.”
When approached by the Daily Mail, a representative for Mone declined to offer any comment.
She has previously denied benefiting financially from PPE Medpro and has claimed she “was not connected” to the company “in any capacity”.
The allegations towards Mone have led to calls for her to have the Tory whip removed. She was appointed peer in 2015.
However, the Conservatives have said she will retain the whip while the National Crime Agency investigates.
Mone and her husband, Douglas Barrowman, have repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.
