Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has said he is “shocked” by allegations surrounding Tory peer Baroness Mone and contracts handed out during the pandemic.
He also said she no longer has the Conservative whip amid claims she and her children benefited from huge profits made by a PPE firm.
Mone’s political career is in jeopardy over her links to PPE Medro, which secured more than £200m to supply equipment in the early days of the pandemic.
She is facing allegations she and her family received £29 million originating from the profits of the PPE firm – claims she has denied. Mone revealed on Tuesday she will take a leave of absence, but critics have gone further to demand she stand down as a life peer.
After being asked about Mone by Labour leader Keir Starmer, Sunak said: “Let me say, like everyone else I was absolutely shocked to read about the allegations.
“It is absolutely right that she is no longer attending the House of Lords and therefore no longer has the Conservative whip.”
Starmer had asked: “How did his colleague Baroness Mone end up with nearly £30 million of taxpayers’ money in her bank account?”
It is understood she will not have to register any changes to her financial interests if the absence request is approved. Labour MP Ian Murray said: “If these allegations prove correct she should resign.
“The circumstances surrounding these PPE contracts gets murkier by the day, and Michelle Mone’s departure raises fresh questions for the Government.
“Labour are forcing a vote on this issue in Parliament as we need to get these documents out in the open so we can find out what went wrong and who was responsible.
“The UK deserves so much better than this tired Tory government mired in sleaze, corruption and scandal, who think of nothing when writing off billions and handing contracts to their mates.”
SNP MP Brendan O’Hara said: “The reality is that Baroness Mone should have had the whip removed from her a long time ago while a thorough investigation into her business dealings was carried out.”
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