Tory peer Baroness Michelle Mone – who’s on the centre of controversy over her alleged hyperlinks to a agency awarded £200m of PPE contracts – has misplaced the Conservative whip, Rishi Sunak has confirmed.
Yesterday, Baroness Mone stated in a press release that she’s going to take a break from the House of Lords to “clear her name” over the allegations.
Probing the PM on the matter at PMQs, Sir Keir Starmer requested: “How did his colleague Baroness Mone end up with nearly £30 million of taxpayers’ money in her bank account?”
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The prime minister stated he was “absolutely shocked” to learn allegations that Baroness Mone obtained tens of millions originating from the earnings of a authorities contract with PPE Medpro.
“It’s right that she is no longer attending the House of Lords and therefore no longer has the Conservative whip,” he instructed MPs within the House of Commons.
Number 10 later confirmed Baroness Mone had misplaced the whip because of her taking a go away of absence.
Losing the whip successfully implies that an MP is expelled from their occasion and should sit as an impartial till it’s reinstated.
PPE Medpro was granted contracts to make surgical robes and masks in the course of the COVID pandemic after Baroness Mone flagged the agency to ministers by a so-called “VIP lane” system.
The VIP lane system noticed a separate mailbox arrange for MPs to ship on affords from corporations, however led to the federal government being criticised for giving preferential therapy to firms with political contacts.
Baroness Mone has since confronted accusations of benefiting from the enterprise, however has constantly denied any “role or function” within the firm, with legal professionals beforehand saying she is “not connected to PPE Medpro in any capacity”.
Yesterday, a spokesman for Baroness Mone stated: “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 go away of absence means Baroness Mone is not going to attend sittings of the House, vote on any proceedings and won’t be able to say any allowance.
A House of Lords spokesperson stated: “Baroness Mone has written to the Clerk of the Parliaments to formally request to take leave of absence from the House of Lords.
“The Clerk has agreed to her request. Baroness Mone’s go away of absence is efficient instantly.”
Responding to Ms Mone’s leave of absence, Labour’s deputy leader Angela Rayner said: “The Tories are all out of excuses.
“Ministers must now set out clear timelines on when, where, and how this information will be released. They can’t keep taking the public for fools by refusing to come clean on what they knew about this dodgy deal.
“Rishi Sunak was too weak to take away the whip, and has left it to Baroness Mone to lastly learn the writing on the wall.”
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Calling for the release of PPE contracts awarded to PPE Medpro, Ms Rayner accused members of the Tory party of using the pandemic as an “alternative” to “get wealthy”.
She alleged that the company was awarded a £122m contract for gowns that “couldn’t be used” and that £700,000 of “taxpayers’ cash” a day is now being wasted on storing the unusable PPE.
The company has denied that the kit was faulty.
Chair of the Public Accounts Committee, Labour’s Meg Hillier, told Sky News it is “probably we in all probability will not get a full have a look at them (the Baroness Mone correspondences) earlier than Christmas”.
Baroness Mone is at present below investigation by the House of Lords’ commissioner for requirements, with parliament’s web site saying the probe is over “alleged involvement in procuring contracts for PPE Medpro leading to potential breaches…of the House of Lords code of conduct”.
A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Social Care stated: “Due diligence was carried out on all companies that were referred to the department and every company was subjected to the same checks.
“We acted swiftly to obtain PPE on the peak of the pandemic, competing in an overheated world market the place demand massively outstripped provide.”
They added the department was “at present engaged in a mediation course of with PPE Medpro”, so couldn’t touch upon the specifics of the contract.
Source: information.sky.com”