Nadine Dorries has waded into the row over Michelle Mone’s peerage, calling on her to quit the House of Lords.
The former culture secretary, who quit as an MP in protest at her own failure to secure a peerage, said the biggest question about Baroness Mone was “why she was made a peer at all”.
Baroness Mone is facing calls to be barred from the House of Lords after she admitted publicly that she stood to benefit from £60m in profit over a PPE contract signed at the height of the Covid crisis.
Baroness Mone’s interview has reignited the row over PPE procurement (PA)— (PA Archive)
The Ultimo bra tycoon, who was made a peer by then Conservative prime minister Lord Cameron in 2015, had repeatedly denied having any links to PPE Medpro, which was awarded government contracts worth more than £200m to supply PPE after she recommended it to ministers.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer and Tory minister Lord Callanan both called on Monday for her to quit or be barred from the Lords.
And, in her latest Daily Mail column, Ms Dorries highlighted Baroness Mone’s complaints about press intrusion into her life since she joined the upper chamber.
Ms Dorries said: “Well, Michelle, there’s an easy answer to that. Do what Lord Callanan suggested yesterday, walk right back out again. It will be a better place without you.”
Ms Dorries said she was “broken-hearted” to have missed out on a peerage in Boris Johnson’s resignation honours list, accusing Rishi Sunak of “cruelly” blocking her from entering the Lords.
She attacked the PM as a “privileged posh boy” who blocked a “girl from Liverpool” from being awarded the honour. When she found out she would not be given a peerage she announced she was immediately quitting as an MP, but held on for 10 weeks and demanded answers about why she was passed over.
On Tuesday, the ex-MP for Mid Bedfordshire laid out a series of unanswered questions over the PPE Medpro scandal, including “why taxpayers’ money was being splashed about in this way”.
Nadine Dorries wants to know why Nadine Dorries was made a peer in the first place— (PA Archive)
She also highlighted Michael Gove’s involvement after Baroness Mone said the senior minister had “questions to answer”. Baroness Mone claimed her involvement had been approved by Mr Gove, then chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster.
And Ms Dorries highlighted a claim from Baroness Mone’s husband Doug Barrowman, who said a government official suggested a National Crime Agency investigation into PPE Medpro could be called off in return for a payment.
“On whose instructions did this conversation take place? Barrowman must substantiate his accusation,” she added.
Baroness Mone said the Michael Gove has ‘questions to answer’ over the PPE row— (PA)
But Ms Dorries said: “The bigger question is: who put Michelle Mone forward to then prime minister David Cameron to be made a peer in 2015 and why?
“This country is full of successful entrepreneurs and they don’t all end up wearing ermine.
“In the interview Mone whined that: ‘...since I’ve walked into the House of Lords, it’s been a nightmare for me and my family.’
“Well, Michelle, there’s an easy answer to that. Do what Lord Callanan suggested yesterday, walk right back out again. It will be a better place without you.”
