A SCOTTISH university is facing calls to strip Michelle Mone of an honorary doctorate.
The Tory peer is currently embroiled in controversy regarding her role in PPE Medpro and the “VIP lane” for suppliers during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Mone and her husband Doug Barrowman have insisted they have done nothing wrong and claimed they have been made “scapegoats” by the UK Government.
A statement published by Barrowman on New Year’s Day hit out at the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) and the Government and insisted there was no criminal case to answer.
The couple are being investigated by the National Crime Agency (NCA) over allegations of PPE fraud.
And now, Scottish Greens MSP Ross Greer told the Daily Record Mone should have her accolade from Paisley University revoked following the row.
Mone and Barrowman made £60 million in profit through their links to the PPE firm during the pandemic.
“Revoking her honorary degree is both necessary and deserved, so I’d urge the principal and university court to do it as quickly as possible,” Greer (below) said.
He added: “Paisley and UWS should not be tainted by association with someone like her.”
PPE Medpro was awarded £203 million in contracts in 2020 after Mone approached Tory ministers.
The Glasgow-born entrepreneur, appointed to the House of Lords by former Tory Prime Minister David Cameron, repeatedly denied involvement with the firm, but finally admitted last month that she had lied to the press.
During an interview with Laura Kuenssberg on the BBC’s flagship Sunday Show, Mone repeatedly insisted she had done nothing wrong.
Mone was given an honorary doctorate by Paisley University in 2002, before it became University West of Scotland (UWS) in 2007.
LibDem MSP Willie Rennie, who studied at the university, said: “Michelle Mone has proven she is no model for students to follow.
“As a former Paisley student myself, I think UWS should withdraw this award.”
During her interview with the BBC, Mone insisted that lying to the press about her involvement with PPE Medpro was not a crime.
She said: “We've done a lot of good but if we were to say anything that we have done that we are sorry for ... we should have told the press straight up, straight away, nothing to hide.
“I was just protecting my family.”
She added: “Saying to the press, ‘I’m not involved’, to protect my family, can I just make this clear, it’s not a crime. I was protecting my family.”
Mone is currently taking a leave of absence from the House of Lords and has revealed that her bank accounts have been frozen.
It comes after Mone hit out at the media's "ridiculous obsession" with her and her family in a new statement.
A spokesperson for UWS said: “All universities award honorary degrees in good faith, based on evidence available to them at the point in time.
“Any decision to reward or revoke are subject to our established policies and procedures.”
