Former bra tycoon Michelle Mone is set to take a leave of absence from the House of Lords with immediate effect, according to reports.
The Scottish peer, who is at the centre of controversy over her alleged links to a firm awarded a PPE contract, will not be sitting in the upper chamber following allegations she benefitted from government covid contracts.
A spokesman for Tory peer Baroness Mone said: "With immediate effect, Baroness Mone will be taking a leave of absence from the House of Lords in order to clear her name of the allegations that have been unjustly levelled against her."
The leave of absence means Lady Mone will not attend sittings of the House, vote on any proceedings and will not be able to claim any allowance.
Mone's statement comes as the Labour Party attempts to try to force the Government to release records of a £200 million contract awarded to PPE Medpro which the Glasgow-born entrepreneur may have profited from, according to reports.
Lady Mone has previously denied having any relation to the company.
Labour's Deputy Leader Angela Rayner said on the Today Programme on Tuesday that companies like PPE Medpro were recommended during the pandemic by Tory ministers, MPs and peers, and given "fast track" and "preferential treatment".
She described the so-called VIP lane as "a scandal of epic proportions".
She said that the company was awarded a £122 million contract for gowns that "could not be used" and that £700,000 of "taxpayers' money" a day is now being wasted on storing the unusable PPE. The company has denied that the kit was faulty.
Rayner added: "This looks very dodgy - people making huge sums of money on PPE that couldn't be used. It needs to be exposed now. Those documents need to come out and it needs to be out in the open."
Mone was also accused by former health secretary Matt Hancock of sending him a "threatening" message after a firm she was helping did not secure a deal during the covid pandemic.
He claimed the Tory peer was "extraordinarily aggressive" when lobbying to help a company win a lateral flow test contract.
In his new book, Pandemic Diaries, Hancock said Mone "was throwing around wild accusations" because the firm wasn't getting the contracts it deserved.
He wrote: "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."
Leaked documents released last month suggest Baroness Mone received the money through an offshore trust, which seems to have originated as profits from £200m deals she promoted through the UK Government's VIP lane.
It is claimed £28.8million from the total £65m profits from the deal was moved in October 2020 to a trust, called Keristal, that allegedly has the peer and her children as beneficiaries.
Over 130,000 people have backed a call for her to be booted out the Lords and to repay the cash. Hancock recalled that Mone worked herself into a "complete frenzy" over the deals during the pandemic.
He wrote: "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.
"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'.
"She concluded by urging me to intervene 'to prevent the next bombshell being dropped on the Government'. I read the message again, stunned. Was she threatening me? It certainly looked that way."
To sign up to the Daily Record Politics newsletter, click here.
