Michelle Mone takes leave of absence from House of Lords amid PPE contract claims

Tory peer at centre of controversy over alleged links to firm awarded contract during Covid

Baroness Michelle Mone, at the centre of controversy over her alleged links to a firm awarded a PPE contract, will take a leave of absence from the House of Lords with immediate effect.

It comes as Labour tries to try to force the publication of texts and emails relating to £200m of Covid PPE contracts secured by a company linked to Conservative peer.

A spokesperson for Baroness Mone said: “With immediate effect, Baroness Mone will be taking a leave of absence from the House of Lords in order to clear her name of the allegations that have been unjustly levelled against her.”

The leave of absence means Lady Mone will not attend sittings of the House, vote on any proceedings and will not be able to claim any allowance.

Baroness Mone has come under pressure since it was reported that she is a beneficiary of an offshore trust believed to have received £29m from PPE Medpro’s profits.

A Lords standards inquiry over allegations that she failed to properly declare an interest in the company has been put on hold while a police investigation takes place.

The lingerie entrepreneur, made a peer by David Cameron in 2015, has previously denied benefiting financially and has claimed she “was not connected to PPE Medpro in any capacity”.

Labour will on Tuesday use a vote in parliament to try to force the government top release texts and emails related to Covid contracts given to PPE Medpo.

The party’s deputy leader Angela Rayner said Tory MPs would be “complicit in a cover-up” if they voted against a motion for the publication of communications by ministers or advisers with PPE Medpro.

Tory MPs have been told that the government will not try to vote against Labour’s humble address motion on PPE contracts linked to Lady Mone, according to The Times, meaning it would pass opposed.

PPE Medpro was awarded two contracts without tender for masks and gowns with a total value of £203m in 2020, but the gowns were never used after failing NHS quality checks.

Former health secretary Matt Hancock has claimed that Lady Mone had sent him an “extraordinarily aggressive” email to lobby him on behalf of another company in a row over a different set of contracts last year, according to extracts of his book serialised in the Daily Mail.

Labour also called on prime minister Rishi Sunak to back Labour amendments to the government’s Procurement Bill to prevent purchase decisions being made by ministers without competitive bidding processes.

“The ‘VIP lane’ for PPE is a scandal of epic proportions that has allowed the shameful waste of taxpayers’ money and inexcusable profiteering by Tory cronies,” said Ms Rayner.

The Labour deputy leader said the Procurement Bill was “full of loopholes that would give Tory ministers free rein to do it all over again”.

Liberal Democrat deputy leader Daisy Cooper said the public “will be rightly appalled that we are still hearing allegations about how many of the Tories’ friends were able to cash in on human suffering”.

She added: “Sunak needs to suspend the whip for Mone and commit on public record that he will personally ensure that everyone in his party fully complies with any investigation.”