Tens of thousands of people have backed a call for Tory peer Michelle Mone to be kicked out of the Lords and repay £29million made from coronavirus PPE kits.
Leaked documents suggest an offshore trust linked to Baroness Mone received the money that seems to be profits from more than £200m in Covid 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, Medpro, has 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 £29m and be expelled from the House.
Jonathan Harty, campaigns manager at 38 Degrees, said: “While our heroic NHS workers were putting their lives on the line, 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 key workers needed is sickening.”
It is claimed that £28.8m 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.
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.”
