TENS of thousands of people have signed a petition calling for Michelle Mone to be expelled from the House of Lords.
Baroness Mone, made a life peer by Tory prime minister David Cameron in 2015, according to The Guardian, received £29 million in profits from a PPE business which was awarded large government contracts after she recommended it to ministers.
Originally from the east end of Glasgow, millionaire Mone is claimed to have backed firm PPE Medpro for a place in the "VIP lane" used by the UK Government to award contracts during the Covid-19 pandemic.
A Guardian investigation found documents which reportedly showed tens of millions of pounds, of PPE Medpro's profits, were transferred to a secret offshore trust, from which Mone and her children benefitted.
Douglas Barrowman, Mone's husband, was paid a minimum of £65m in profits by the company, before distributing the cash through trusts, companies and offshore accounts.
Overall, Mone and her family made around £29m in profits, prompting fury from the public.
Mone previously repeatedly denied the accusations before the HSBC documents were leaked.
And now, a petition calling for her removal from the Westminster Parliament's second house has gained traction following the revelations.
The petition reads: "Corruption has no place in politics.
"Conservative peer Michelle Mone is reported to have secretly pocketed £29m of public money during the pandemic for unsafe PPE that couldn’t even be used - all while our NHS heroes were putting their lives on the line - including by wearing DIY PPE to protect themselves and the public during the pandemic.
"We - the undersigned - are calling on the Lords Conduct Committee to investigate and expel Michelle Mone from the House of Lords and ensure that every penny in profit that she took from the taxpayer is repaid immediately."
Over 85,400 people have signed the petition at the time of publication.
The aim of the petition is to have Mone expelled from the Lords "immediately", adding that she had denied her involvement in the contract row six times.
A note at the bottom of the petition explains: "If Mone used her influence as a Tory peer to pocket millions of pounds for herself, she should not only lose her seat in the Lords, she should have to pay back EVERY PENNY!
"The committee with the power to expel Mone from the Lords is due to meet in a matter of weeks.
"If we can show them just how angry the public are ahead of that meeting, it’ll be forced onto their radars and they’ll be compelled to act."
The petition hopes to gain the attention of the House of Lords Conduct Committee to force Mone to be expelled from the Lords.
However, removing a life peer is not a simple process. While reforms were made in 2014 under the House of Lords Reform Act, to remove a peerage the person must be convicted of a "serious offence" and have been sentenced to a year or more in prison, or indefinitely.
Peers can be expelled or suspended for non-attendance or being sentenced to over a year in prison.
Life peers can also resign from being a member of the House, as Scottish Labour's Katy Clark, Baroness Clark of Kilwinning, did before taking up her spot as an MSP in Holyrood following the 2021 election.
A House of Lords spokesperson said: “The independent House of Lords Commissioner for Standards has already started an investigation into whether Baroness Mone has breached the Code of Conduct.
"However, the rules state that the Commissioner may not finalise or publish any report while the matter is under investigation by the police or another agency as part of a criminal investigation, to avoid prejudicing any trial.
"Once the criminal process is complete or has ceased, the Commissioner will complete his investigation and publish his report.
"If he finds that there has been a breach, he can recommend a sanction from the list of options set out in the Guide to the Code of Conduct. The most serious sanctions are suspension and expulsion.
“Separately, under the House of Lords Reform Act 2014, a member who is convicted of a criminal offence and sentenced to prison for more than one year automatically ceases to be a member of the House.”
