Tory peer Michelle Mone admits she could benefit from firm in PPE contracts row
dailyrecord.co.ukTory peer Michelle Mone has said she could benefit from a contract between the Government and PPE firm Medpro in her first major broadcast interview since the scandal emerged.The Ultimo bra tycoon faced questions over the controversy surrounding “VIP lane” contracts during the coronavirus pandemic when she appeared on the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme on Sunday.It comes after she conceded she made an “error” in publicly denying her links to the firm, which is being investigated by the National Crime Agency (NCA).PPE Medpro was awarded Government contracts worth more than £200 million to supply personal protective equipment after she recommended it to ministers.She admitted she is a beneficiary of her husband Doug Barrowman’s financial trusts, which hold around £60m of profit from the deal but said the couple have been made “scapegoats” for the government’s wider failings over PPE.Mone has repeatedly denied that she had profited from the deal, which she first discussed with government ministers including Michael Gove.It was during her chat with the BBC that she conceded to making repeated untruthful statements in relation to the matter.Mone told the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg: “If one day, if God forbid, my husband passes away before me, then I am a beneficiary, as well as his children and my children, so yes, of course.”Mone said she did not mean to fool anyone, despite admitting the couple misled the press about their involvement.“I did make an error in saying to the press that I wasn’t involved,” she said“Hindsight is a wonderful thing.
I wasn’t trying to pull the wool over anyone’s eyes, and I regret and I’m sorry for not saying straight out, yes, I am involved.”The Department of Health and Social Care
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