Michelle Mone has hit back at a former Conservative health minister after he accused her of not being honest with him during the pandemic about her financial interests.
James Bethell had challenged the disgraced Conservative peer’s claim that she told people in government about her links with PPE Medpro, a consortium led by her husband, at the time it was bidding for contracts from which the firm made millions of pounds in profits.
On Monday, in response to a post by her on X about Rishi Sunak, Lord Bethell claimed Mone was not “honest” about her financial interest and – in what he said was “typical” of her – attached a screenshot of a message she had sent to him in 2020.
In an apparent dig at Bethell over the criticism he faced after it emerged that he replaced his phone during the pandemic, Mone responded on X on Tuesday morning: “You seem to have mysteriously discovered access to your text messages from 2020. Now you’ve finally found them, will you be sending them all to the Covid inquiry?” Mone attached a popcorn emoji.
A furious row broke out on Monday out between Mone and the government over how much it knew about her links to PPE Medpro, which made millions of pounds in profits from a contract to provide personal protective equipment (PPE) during the pandemic. Mone admitted in a BBC interview on Sunday that she had been untruthful in denying a connection to PPE Medpro.
She also claimed the Cabinet Office, which Michael Gove led at the time, the government and the NHS “all knew about my involvement from the very beginning” before awarding her husband’s firm £203m in contracts.
When Sunak was asked during a trip to Scotland on Monday about Mone’s admission she had not told the truth about her involvement in the firm, he replied: “The government takes these things incredibly seriously, which is why we’re pursuing legal action against the company concerned in these matters. That’s how seriously I take it and the government takes it.
“But it is also subject to an ongoing criminal investigation, and because of that, there’s not much further that I can add.”
Guardian investigations found Mone and her husband, Doug Barrowman, were involved with PPE Medpro, which was awarded contracts in May and June 2020 after she approached ministers, including Gove, with an offer to supply PPE.
Mone remains a Tory peer, according to the House of Lords, despite No 10 claiming she had “de facto” lost the whip because she had taken a leave of absence when the scandal broke. It emerged on Monday that she was no longer a party member.
The Guardian understands the House of Lords standards commissioner has received a further complaint about Mone’s admission that she had lied to the media. The watchdog has already launched an investigation into the affair.
