On its face, the Division of Well being and Social Care v PPE Medpro Restricted was not a case about Michelle Mone, or VIP quick lanes, or the politics and profiteering of the pandemic years.
Fairly, because the DHSC’s barrister made clear on the primary morning of the primary day of hearings, it was about 25 million surgical robes offered to the NHS for £122m. Had been they, or have been they not, appropriately licensed as sterile, and thus match to be used?
The reply, unequivocally in keeping with Woman Justice Cockerill’s judgment, was no, leaving PPE Medpro in breach of contract, and liable to repay simply wanting £122m.
This case was all the time going to be about greater than dusty contract regulation nonetheless. By concentrating on the corporate based and managed by Doug Barrowman, the husband of Baroness Mone, the DHSC was taking over the couple who encapsulated the COVID PPE scandal.
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Baroness Michelle Mone and her husband Doug Barrowman. Pic: PA
Her public profile because the media-friendly lingerie entrepreneur ennobled by David Cameron, blithely sharing snaps from the Woman M yacht whereas the nation endured lockdown, and her husband’s repeated hole denials, made them the faces of that failure.
PPE Medpro received greater than £200m of contracts solely after Baroness Mone used her political contacts, together with Michael Gove, to introduce the agency to the federal government’s VIP ‘quick lane’ and short-circuit regular procurement guidelines.
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Michelle Mone is admitted to the Home of Lords after being made a Tory peer. Pic: PA
She did so on the identical day in Might 2020 that her husband Doug Barrowman included the corporate, after which lobbied arduous over the subsequent six months to see the deal accomplished. The choose described her as PPE Medpro’s “big gun”, deployed when civil servants have been perceived to be holding up the deal.
When challenged the pair then lied for greater than two years about their hyperlinks to the corporate, solely admitting their position after dogged reporting by The Guardian revealed not simply her position in lobbying on its behalf, however the extraction of greater than £65m in revenue.
When challenged in a BBC interview and a self-funded documentary, Mone stated that whereas she regretted not admitting her position, mendacity to journalists was not against the law.
The couple’s response to the ruling was consistent with their method all through. The day earlier than the judgment PPE Medpro filed to enter administration, with accounts displaying property of simply £666,000, guaranteeing that any dialogue about reimbursement will probably be with the administrator, not Mr Barrowman.
Baroness Mone in the meantime took to social media to assert the couple had been “scapegoated and vilified” for wider failings, and shared correspondence wherein they provided to settle the case for £23m.
After the judgment was delivered the baroness known as it “an Establishment win”, whereas Mr Barrowman, whose firm provided no factual proof in courtroom and was not known as as a witness, known as it a “travesty of justice”.
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Reeves welcomes ruling on PPE contract breach
Labour ministers, led by the chancellor, praised the courtroom’s independence whilst they celebrated a judgment which, if nothing else, might remind voters of the chaos of the Boris Johnson years.
Getting the cash again, the central level of the authorized train, will probably be more durable than stirring dangerous recollections.
The DHSC has appointed legal professionals to attempt to assist it “recover every penny” however it’s unclear how that may be achieved given Medpro’s administration.
It may select to pursue Mr Barrowman, who boasted of big wealth earned in fintech and lived a life-style to match, however it’s unclear how, and whether or not he nonetheless has the means.
The Nationwide Crime Company has frozen £75m of the couple’s property as a part of its ongoing investigation, and the couple are reported to have offered houses and different property in recent times.
