The High Court orders PPE Medpro to return £122m after supplying unusable Covid gowns linked to Tory peer Michelle Mone. Image: ITV.
(The Post News)– A company owned by Conservative peer Michelle Mone and her husband, Doug Barrowman, must pay back £122m after a High Court judge ruled that it had breached a government contract to supply sterile gowns during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Judge Cockerill ruled that the gowns, which were made in China, lacked proper certification and verification to prove sterility. She ruled that PPE Medpro had violated the terms of the contract and the law. The NHS turned down the gowns in September 2020, and they were never used.
Michelle Mone’s Role
Evidence presented in courts showed Baroness Mone was the “big gun” of the company when negotiating with officials to help seal the deal. PPE Medpro secured two deals via the government’s VIP lane in 2020 for over £200m. One was for £122m for gowns and £80.85m for masks.
PPE Medpro had until 15 October to refund the money, but the company had petitioned to go into administration a day ahead of the decision. Accounts released days before showed it had less than £1m in assets, which left officials worried about repayment. Justice Cockerill also rejected the DHSC’s £8.65m claim for storage costs, saying the department failed to prove the expenses.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting said the company endangered NHS staff and patients by supplying substandard PPE. “We won’t stand for this. We’re coming after every penny owed to our NHS,” Streeting said.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves promised to work with managers to reclaim the money, claiming the money “is owed to our schools, our hospitals, and our communities.”
Mone and Barrowman Deny Wrongdoing
Baroness Mone called the ruling “an Establishment victory” for the government, and Barrowman’s representative said the ruling was “a travesty of justice.”
The pair owned up in late 2023 to Barrowman owning PPE Medpro, having previously denied it. Investigations showed Barrowman was paid over £60 million in profits, which went into a trust set up for Mone and her family.
The National Crime Agency (NCA) is still investigating possible criminal offenses in relation to the PPE contracts. Mone and Barrowman both claim no wrongdoing.
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