Revealed: Tory peer Michelle Mone secretly received 29m from 'VIP lane' PPE firm

[Emrys]

Documents suggest husband passed on money from PPE Medpro, which secured £200m contracts after Mone lobbied ministers

The Conservative peer Michelle Mone and her children secretly received £29m originating from the profits of a PPE business that was awarded large government contracts after she recommended it to ministers, documents seen by the Guardian indicate.

Lady Mone’s support helped the company, PPE Medpro, secure a place in a “VIP lane” the government used during the coronavirus pandemic to prioritise companies that had political connections. It then secured contracts worth more than £200m.

Documents seen by the Guardian indicate tens of millions of pounds of PPE Medpro’s profits were later transferred to a secret offshore trust of which Mone and her adult children were the beneficiaries.

Asked by the Guardian last year why Mone did not include PPE Medpro in her House of Lords register of financial interests, her lawyer replied: “Baroness Mone did not declare any interest as she did not benefit financially and was not connected to PPE Medpro in any capacity.”

The leaked documents, which were produced by the bank HSBC, appear to contradict that statement. They state that Mone’s husband, the Isle of Man-based financier Douglas Barrowman, was paid at least £65m in profits from PPE Medpro, and then distributed the funds through a series of offshore accounts, trusts and companies.

The ultimate recipients of the funds, the documents indicate, include the Isle of Man trust that was set up to benefit Mone, who was Barrowman’s fiancee at the time, and her children. In October 2020, the documents add, Barrowman transferred to the trust £28.8m originating from PPE Medpro profits.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/nov/23/revealed-tory-peer-michelle-mone-secretly-received-29m-from-vip-lane-ppe-firm

This is just the very tip of the iceberg of the grift surrounding the purchase of PPE (personal protective equipment) by tory cronies and funders during the pandemic.

[Sanity Claws]

1. What is PPE?

Was it like PPP here in the US? I would have assumed that but the article mentioned PPE Medpro. Here PPP was used to pay an existing business' payroll and other limited items, not to open separate business.

[T_i_B]

2. Personal Protection Equipment

It generally means stuff like face masks, surgical gloves and other medical supplies used heavily during the pandemic to stop the spread of Coronavirus.

[Emrys]

3. Ta. I'll spell it out in the OP in case anyone doesn't read down the replies! n/t

[Sanity Claws]

4. Aahh. I would have caught that reference in 2020

but now that we are not facing shortage of PPE as we were in 2020, I had forgotten the acronym.