The government is coming for the PPE fat cats. Baroness Michelle Mone, the Tory peer who made a fortune from dodgy mask deals, is being sued for millions. The Serious Fraud Office is circling. The National Crime Agency is sharpening its knives. This isn't a leak. It's a declaration of war.
Sources inside Whitehall tell me the Cabinet Office is preparing a civil claim against Mone. They want the money back. The full amount? Unknown. But whispers suggest it could exceed £100 million. That's the value of contracts awarded to her husband's company, PPE Medpro, during the height of the pandemic. Contracts that saw millions of unusable masks and flawed gowns delivered to the NHS. A scandal that has festered for three years.
The timing is brutal for the Tories. Sunak is trying to detoxify the brand. He wants to be seen as the man who cleaned up Westminster. Taking on Mone, a former Conservative donor, sends a signal. But it also exposes the party's rotten underbelly. Labour is already sharpening its attack lines. "Sleaze divides the Tories," they'll say.
Inside the Cabinet, the mood is febrile. Some ministers are privately furious. They wanted this dealt with quietly. A settlement, a gagging order, a quick burial. But Downing Street has taken a different view. They fear the optics of protecting their own. Better to throw Mone to the wolves. Let the courts decide.
Mone's legal team will fight. They'll argue the contracts were legitimate. They'll point to the desperate scramble for PPE. They'll say the government was begging for suppliers. That's true. But it's a weak defence. The facts are brutal. The products were substandard. The prices were inflated. The connections were cosy.
The larger story here is the crackdown on pandemic profiteering. The government has set up a new taskforce, the COVID-19 Counter-Fraud Unit. It's looking at hundreds of contracts. Dozens of individuals and companies. The message is clear: we are coming for you. But is this a genuine clean-up or a political stunt? Skeptics in the Lobby note the timing. Sunak needs a win. The polls are dire. A high-profile prosecution would play well with voters.
But the risks are high. The legal system is slow. Civil claims can take years. The government might end up settling, quietly, without admitting liability. That would infuriate the public. And if Mone fights back, she could drag other Ministers into the mud. Names are being whispered. Former advisers. Current MPs. The files are thick.
For now, the official line from Number 10 is cautious. "We are taking robust action to recover public money." That's it. No specifics. No timeline. But the machinery is moving. The Treasury Solicitor's Department is drafting the papers. The High Court will soon receive a claim.
Baroness Mone herself is silent. Her husband, Doug Barrowman, is in Dubai. The couple have faced intense scrutiny since the scandal broke. Mone stepped down from the Lords temporarily. But she hasn't resigned. She is digging in. Her allies say she will clear her name. They point to the absence of criminal charges. That is true. For now. But the SFO investigation is active. The NCA is gathering evidence. Criminal charges cannot be ruled out.
If this goes to trial, it will be a spectacle. A Tory peer in the dock. A government literally suing its own. The opposition will have a field day. But for Sunak, it's a gamble. If he wins, he looks strong. If he loses, the damage is incalculable.
The Lobby is alive with chatter. This is the biggest story of the summer. It has legs. Watch for leaks from the civil proceedings. Watch for Mone's countersuit. And watch the polls. If Labour's lead widens, the knives will come out for Sunak. He needs this to work.
