The gloves are off. Parliament is sharpening its knives over the PPE Medpro scandal. Baroness Michelle Mone, the Tory peer turned lingerie entrepreneur, is now staring down a lawsuit from the government. The stakes? Tens of millions of taxpayer pounds. The mood in Westminster? Restless.
Let's rewind. During the pandemic's peak, PPE Medpro won contracts worth over £200m to supply gowns and masks. The company was unknown then. It is unknown now. Except for one detail: Baroness Mone's husband, Doug Barrowman, had a stake. She denies involvement. But the National Crime Agency is sniffing around. The government wants its money back.
Today, the Commons Public Accounts Committee is demanding answers. Chaired by the formidable Meg Hillier, the committee has already grilled ministers. Now they want the full story. "We need to know who knew what and when," one senior Labour MP muttered in the tea room. The government is squirming. Ministers insist they followed process. But the whiff of cronyism is hard to mask.
The lawsuit is a separate but parallel drama. The government is suing PPE Medpro for breach of contract, alleging the gowns were not fit for purpose. The company denies this. But the damage is done. For Baroness Mone, a once-rising star in the Lords, the fallout is brutal. The Sunday Times has been relentless. Leaks are flowing like claret at a Tory fundraiser.
Inside Number 10, there is panic. The last thing they need is another sleaze row. The Johnson era is over, but its shadows linger. The PM's aides are briefing that this is a matter for the courts, not the Commons. But the committee is having none of it. Hillier has already written to the Cabinet Office demanding documents. The clock is ticking.
What happens next? Expect fireworks. The opposition will turn the screw. Labour wants this front and centre. The Lib Dems are circling. Even some Tories are muttering about the need for transparency. "We cannot have a two-tier system," one backbencher told me. "One rule for the rich, another for the rest."
The key battleground is the ministerial code. Did anyone overlook a conflict of interest? The former health secretary Matt Hancock is in the frame. His WhatsApp messages are being combed through. The committee will want to know if he gave special treatment to PPE Medpro. Hancock's allies insist he followed rules. But the lobby is humming with rumours.
This story is not going away. It is a gift for the opposition and a headache for the government. Baroness Mone's lawyers are fighting back. But the court of public opinion? That is a tougher battle. The image of a millionaire peer profiting from crisis is a potent weapon. Labour will use it relentlessly.
In the tea rooms, the talk is of resignations. Not yet. But the mood is toxic. The government needs to get ahead of this. That means publishing the documents. Maybe a full inquiry. Anything less will look like a cover-up.
I will be tracking this all day. Updates as they come. Stay tuned.
