MICHELLE Mone has attacked both Rishi Sunak and Michael Gove as questions around her involvement with Covid contracts awarded to her husband’s company mount up.
The formerly Tory baroness, who lost the party whip in 2022, spoke out against the two senior Conservatives on social media.
Gove had been facing calls to appear before MPs and make an urgent statement after Mone named him during an interview with the BBC on Sunday.
The businesswoman had first contacted Gove lobbying for public contracts on May 8, 2020. Four days later, the firm PPE Medpro was officially created.
On Sunday, Mone said she contacted the then-chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster at the start of the pandemic to offer help, to which his reaction was “this is amazing”.
But now, Mone has said that Gove has questions to answer.
Michael Gove and Sir Chris Wormald approved the purchase of 5 years supply of PPE when the remit was to build up only 4 months. They oversaw huge waste in PPE contracts. They have both had questions to answer for a very long time.
— Lady Michelle Mone (@MichelleMone) December 18, 2023
Writing on social media, Mone said: “Michael Gove and Sir Chris Wormald [the permanent secretary of the Department of Health and Social Care] approved the purchase of 5 years’ supply of PPE when the remit was to build up only 4 months.
“They oversaw huge waste in PPE contracts. They have both had questions to answer for a very long time.”
At the time Mone first lobbied for public contracts for PPE Medpro, Sunak was chancellor. Asked about the scandal during a visit to Scotland, the now Prime Minister largely declined to comment, but insisted the UK Government was taking things “incredibly seriously”.
“First of all, this whole situation is subject to an ongoing criminal investigation but also the Government is taking action, legal action, against the company involved,” Sunak (below) said.
“So, there’s a limit to what I can say other than say we take all these things incredibly seriously. That’s why the Government’s taking legal action and because there’s a criminal investigation ongoing obviously I can’t comment any further.”
Responding to a broadcast clip showing Sunak’s comments, Mone wrote: “What is @RishiSunak talking about?
“I was honest with the Cabinet Office, the Government and the NHS in my dealings with them.
“They all knew about my involvement from the very beginning.”
Despite now insisting that her involvement with PPE Medpro – which was awarded more than £200 million in Covid contracts – was well known, Mone admitted on Sunday that she had lied to the media for years in insisting she had no connection to the firm.
The beleaguered baroness is also facing criminal allegations amid a National Crime Agency (NCA) probe into the firm.
Speaking during a visit to Leeds, Labour leader Keir Starmer also criticised Mone and called for Gove to appear before MPs to answer questions.
He said: “This is a shocking disgrace from top to bottom. And, as every day goes past, there are more questions that need to be answered.
“There’s now suggestions there was early private contact with members of the Cabinet that may have started this unhappy story in the first place. So the Government needs to come clean.”
Asked if Mone should be expelled from the Lords, Starmer said: “I don’t think she should be in the Lords. I think the Government should be held to account for this.”
Mone was made a life peer by David Cameron in 2015. She lost the Tory whip in December 2022 when she began a leave of absence from the Lords.
