Trial of government's £122m claim against PPE provider begins

The high court will today begin hearing the government's multi-million-pound legal claim against the company awarded two personal protective equipment (PPE) contracts during the Covid pandemic after the Conservative peer Michelle Mone recommended it to ministers.

- David Conn

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) sued in December 2022 for return of the £122m it paid to the company, PPE Medpro, for 25m sterile surgical gowns, which were rejected after delivery to the UK.

That contract, and another worth £80.85m to supply face masks, were processed via the then Conservative government's "VIP lane", which gave high priority to companies recommended by people with political connections.

Mone, who rose to prominence running her lingerie company, Ultimo, was appointed to the House of Lords by David Cameron in 2015. After PPE Medpro's contracts were published in 2020, lawyers for Mone and her husband, the Isle of Man-based businessman Doug Barrowman, denied that the couple were involved in the company.

In a series of reports in 2022, the Guardian revealed that the couple were involved, and that Mone had first approached the then Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove.