More than 130,000 people have backed a call for Tory peer Michelle Mone to be kicked out of the Lords and repay £29million of taxpayers’ cash over coronavirus kit.
Leaked documents suggest an offshore trust linked to Baroness Mone received the money, which seems to have originated as profits from more than £200million in Covid-19 PPE deals she promoted through the Government’s VIP lane.
Some of the protection gear was later found to be faulty, though the company Baroness Mone recommended to the Government, Medpro, insisted its gowns passed technical inspections and met contractual requirements.
More than 133,000 people had last night signed a 38 Degrees campaign petition demanding the peer pay back the £29million and be expelled from the Upper House.
Jonathan Harty, campaigns manager at 38 Degrees, said: “The idea a Conservative peer could be feathering her own nest on the backs of a contract that failed to deliver the vital PPE our essential workers needed is sickening. If Baroness Mone used her position to make millions of pounds for herself, she should not only lose her seat in the Lords, she should have to pay back every penny.”
It is claimed £28.8million from the total £65million profits from the deal was moved in October 2020 to a trust, called Keristal, that allegedly has the peer and her children as beneficiaries.
The baroness’s lawyers insist “she did not benefit financially” from the deal. And her spokesman said last night: “Baroness Mone is working with her legal team on this witch-hunt.”
Mone, originally from Glasgow, became a global name through the creation of the cleavage-enhancing Ultimo bra. She launched the bra in 1999 at Selfridges in London.
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