Away from the leadership fun, businesswoman Michelle Mone is back in the headlines after sitting down with the BBC in an attempt to rehabilitate her reputation. She has been facing accusations that she and her husband failed to declare their interest in a major PPE contract awarded during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

London Playbook Sunday Crunch www.politico.eu 

Her argument: Mone claims she and her husband Doug Barrowman have been made scapegoats for the government’s wider failings over PPE. The pair last week issued a YouTube documentary trying to clear their name, alleging a Department for Health official told them they could pay to make a National Crime Agency investigation go away — an accusation they repeated in the BBC interview this morning.   

Sorry about that: Mone and Barrowman emphatically denied their involvement in PPE Medpro in statements issued by their lawyers when the story first surfaced. They admitted involvement through lawyers last month, but on the BBC this morning, Mone admitted they had lied. “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.” 

Case for the defense: Mone went on to insist: “DHSC [the health department], the NHS, the Cabinet Office, they all knew of my involvement,” but said she didn’t want the press intrusion when she was asked by the press about her links. 

Did Dowden know: Asked if he knew about the links, Dowden, albeit culture secretary at the time, told the BBC: “No, I didn’t.”

Did it work? The Laura Kuenssberg show panel made up of actor Brian Cox, presenter Susanna Reid and Tory MP Robert Buckland were pretty unanimously scathing about her case for the defense, particularly that she had lied because of fears of press intrusion. Reid said it was “utterly remarkable she does not see how sensitive this is for people.”

Not just a title: Buckland had little time for the excuses: “When you’re in the House of Lords, it’s not just like a bauble or a title, it’s a public role,” he said, explaining it was up to members of both houses to declare their interests. 

Why it matters: Labour wants to make political capital out of this. Shadow Health Secretary Wes Streeting was quick out of the blocks this morning claiming government attempts to claw back money from PPE contracts gone wrong had been “pathetic,” and keen to pin failings on Sunak himself. “It’s his name on all of those checks. He was the Chancellor who was splashing the cash.”

From inews.co.uk 

The Liberal Democrats have called for Baroness Mone to be kicked out of the Conservative Party, with the party’s Cabinet Office spokesperson Christine Jardine calling the situation “shameful”.

“It is jaw-dropping that Michelle Mone has admitted lying to the country over this shameful PPE scandal and is now trying to play the victim card. She repeatedly denied she would make money from this contract, now it emerges she’s set to profit to the tune of millions,” she said.

“Rishi Sunak was too weak to withdraw the Conservative whip from Baroness Mone when this scandal emerged last year. He must finally do the right thing now. The Prime Minister should kick Michelle Mone out of the Conservative Party and withdraw the whip if she has the gall to return to the Lords.

She continued: “This shameful saga is an insult to the British public and shows why we need to bring an end to this Conservative cronyism and sleaze at the next election.”