A company linked to Tory peer Baroness Michelle Mone breached a government contract of nearly £122m to supply surgical gowns during the COVID-19 pandemic, the High Court has ruled.
The £121.9m sum must now be repaid by the company, PPE Medpro.
The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) brought the case, saying it provided 25 million “faulty”, non-sterile gowns.
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On Wednesday, the High Court said the gowns did not comply with the requirement of having a validated process to demonstrate sterility, and it was not possible for the DHSC to have sold them and recoup the loss.
The company, a consortium led by Lady Mone’s husband, businessman Doug Barrowman, was awarded the government contract after she recommended it to ministers.
As well as wanting to recover the costs of the deal, the government wanted to recoup the costs of transporting and storing the items, which amount to an additional £8.6m, though the High Court denied the latter request.
PPE Medpro’s counterclaim that the DHSC should have advised it on how to comply with the contract also failed.
Denied wrongdoing
Both Lady Mone and Mr Barrowman denied wrongdoing, and neither gave evidence at the trial in June.
She had initially denied involvement in the company or the process through which it was handed the government contract.
However, it was later revealed that Baroness Mone was the “source of referral” for the firm getting a place on the so-called “VIP lane” for offers of personal protective equipment for the NHS.
Yesterday, Lady Mone accused the government of making her and her husband a “poster couple for the PPE scandal”, in a lengthy online tirade.
Mr Barrowman’s response
In response to the ruling, Mr Barrowman said it was “a travesty of justice” and the judge gave the DHSC “an establishment win despite the mountain of evidence in court against such a judgment”.
“Her judgment bears little resemblance to what actually took place during the month-long trial, where PPE Medpro convincingly demonstrated that its gowns were sterile,” he said.
“This judgment is a whitewash of the facts and shows that justice was being seen to be done, where the outcome was always certain for the DHSC and the government. This case was simply too big for the government to lose.”
Ahead of the ruling, PPE Medpro filed a “notice of appointment to appoint an administrator” on Tuesday.
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