Baroness Michelle Mone has achieved what few politicians have – by becoming embroiled in a corruption scandal so laughable that even the British media can’t cover up for her. This is so much the case that even Laura Kuenssberg – the worst journalist to have ever existed – is now dunking on the woman:
Michelle Mone: "I can't see what we've done wrong"#bbclaurak: You can't see what you've done wrong, but you've admitted you lied to the press & you lied to the public#TrevorPhillips pic.twitter.com/oIxArvNtDb
— Haggis_UK 🇬🇧 🇪🇺 (@Haggis_UK) December 17, 2023
PPEgate
Mone has links to PPE Medpro, a company which supplied Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to the government during the Coronavirus pandemic. While that doesn’t sound too bad, don’t worry – it soon will. According to the BBC:
PPE Medpro is being sued by the UK government for £122m plus costs for “breach of contract and unjust enrichment”.
It is also being investigated by the National Crime Agency (NCA).
As reported by the Canary, a lot of companies did dodgy PPE deals during the pandemic. The issue around PPE Medpro is that Mone got the company fast-tracked onto their contract, and was subsequently owed tens of millions in compensation.
The Guardian revealed in 2022:
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.
Oh, and she did all this secretly – you know – like you do when you know you’re ethically and legally in the right. The Guardian reported at the time:
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.”
Except. That. Wasn’t. True.
Shocked?
You shouldn’t be.
Mone herself revealed she’d been telling porkies a week ago, as reported by the BBC:
Michelle Mone says she “regrets” not being more transparent about her links with a company that had UK government contracts during the pandemic.
The outlet added:
The Scottish businesswoman has now spoken publicly for the first time – in a Youtube documentary – since the story emerged.
The production is funded by PPE Medpro – the company at the centre of the controversy.
This was a bit late given that in 2021:
the UK government revealed that Baroness Mone was the “source of referral” for the company getting a place on the so-called “VIP lane” for offers of personal protective equipment for the NHS.
Given all the lying, you’d be forgiven for thinking that Mone had done something wrong. According to the woman herself, though, she actually hasn’t. Other than the lying, of course, although that isn’t illegal – not according to Mone, anyway.
Nothing wrong
In the interview with Kuenssberg, Mone insisted:
I don’t honestly see there is a case to answer. I can’t see what we have done wrong.
She added:
we’ve only done one thing, which was lie to the press to say we weren’t involved
Paradoxically, she also said:
I wasn’t trying to pull the wool over anyone’s eyes
I don’t think she understands what that phrase means – that or she’s lying (again).
Unsurprisingly, the interview has not gone down well with those who had the misfortune of watching it:
Susanna Reid on Mone: “She’s thinks she’s the victim because of the press intrusion. It’s utterly remarkable that she doesn’t see how sensitive this issue is. PPE was so desperately needed that business people thought they could make millions out of that desperation”#bbclaurak pic.twitter.com/T34NW6pJXn
— David (@Zero_4) December 17, 2023
Michelle Mone needs to answer questions from the National Crime Agency. Not Laura Kuenssberg.
— David__Osland (@David__Osland) December 17, 2023
Michelle Mone on #bbclaurak
I remember a year ago when I spoke to some journos about why they weren't printing material about her, and they told me they'd received threatening letters from her lawyers.
I decided to start tweeting about it anyway, and I'm glad I did.They've… https://t.co/Tmsq4ODsFN
— Carol Vorderman (@carolvorders) December 17, 2023
A Tory apart?
Anna Soubry – either the stupidest or most dishonest MP the Tory Party has ever produced – questioned how Mone ended up in the House of Lords:
How on earth did Michelle Mone end up in the House of Lords. Utterly sick of the abuse & undermining of our democracy by shoving people in the HoL for abs no good reason. And FWIW I don’t believe a word of what she & her husband are spouting on #BBCLauraK https://t.co/gsbec7wNm6
— Anna Soubry 🇬🇧🏴🇺🇦🇪🇺🖤🤍 (@Anna_Soubry) December 17, 2023
Soubry was a Tory MP for nine years – a role which required her to wade through waist-deep sleaze and corruption on a daily basis. She can’t genuinely be surprised about what Mone did. Or maybe she can be, and she’s thick as shit?
In reality, Mone isn’t any more corrupt than the rest of our political class; she’s just unfortunate enough to have committed one of the few dodgy acts that our capricious media and legal systems deem worthy of further investigation. She does deserve it, of course, and as such we here at the Canary wish her a legally culpable Christmas and an incarceratory new year.
Featured image via BBC
