Baroness Mone-Linked Firm Ordered to Pay £122m Over Covid PPE Contract Breach
A company linked to Conservative peer Baroness Michelle Mone and her husband, billionaire businessman Doug Barrowman, has been ordered to pay £122 million in damages after the High Court ruled it breached a government contract to supply personal protective equipment (PPE) during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The ruling comes after the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) sued PPE Medpro, alleging that millions of surgical gowns delivered to the NHS did not meet required safety and sterilisation standards.
Court Rules PPE Medpro Breached Contract
In her ruling, Justice Cockerill concluded that PPE Medpro failed to prove the gowns had gone through a validated sterilisation process, a requirement under the terms of the contract. The court also noted the absence of the notified body number usually present on sterile medical equipment, further raising concerns about compliance.
The judge said:
“That was not complied with by Medpro. It followed that Medpro had breached the contract.”
As a result, the company has been ordered to pay £121,999,219 plus interest to the government. However, the company’s financial future remains uncertain, as administrators were appointed just a day before the ruling. According to its last accounts, Medpro held less than £700,000 in shareholder funds—a fraction of the damages now owed.
Background: The Covid PPE Scramble
At the height of the pandemic in 2020, the UK government rushed to secure PPE for frontline NHS staff. Baroness Mone recommended PPE Medpro through the government’s controversial “VIP lane”, which allowed politically connected firms to fast-track contract bids.
Set up in May 2020 by a consortium led by Doug Barrowman, PPE Medpro secured lucrative deals to supply masks and surgical gowns. The company delivered 25 million sterile gowns from China between August and October that year.
However, by December 2020, the DHSC rejected the gowns, claiming they were non-compliant and demanding a refund. Subsequent testing found that of 140 gowns examined, 103 failed sterilisation checks.
Political Fallout
Chancellor Rachel Reeves reacted strongly to the court’s decision, saying she would do everything in her power to recover the money:
“This money belongs in our schools, in our hospitals, and in our communities—not in the hands of those who profited during the pandemic.”
Reeves also stated she hoped Baroness Mone would not return to the House of Lords. However, she admitted that stripping a peer of their title requires an act of Parliament, meaning Mone cannot be formally removed unless she chooses to resign.
Baroness Mone has been on a leave of absence from the Lords since December 2022, following growing scrutiny over her role in the contracts.
Mone and Barrowman’s Role
While Baroness Mone initially denied involvement in PPE Medpro, she later admitted to the BBC in 2023 that she and her husband stood to benefit from up to £60 million in profits from the deals. She also confessed they had lied about their ties to the company to avoid media intrusion.
During the trial, evidence revealed that Medpro’s director Anthony Page had invoked Mone’s influence during negotiations, describing her as his “big gun” in efforts to secure contracts.
The court’s decision adds further controversy to Mone’s reputation. Once celebrated as one of Britain’s most successful businesswomen—best known for creating the Ultimo lingerie brand—she was elevated to the Lords in 2015 by then-Prime Minister David Cameron.
Company’s Defence and Reaction
PPE Medpro argued it had met its contractual obligations and that the gowns could have been repurposed as non-sterile isolation gowns or sold to third parties outside the EU.
However, the judge dismissed this argument, noting that the NHS did not require additional isolation gowns at the time and that Medpro had failed to provide evidence of proper sterilisation.
A spokesperson for Doug Barrowman described the ruling as “a travesty of justice”, insisting that Medpro had proven its gowns were sterile during the month-long trial.
Baroness Mone herself called the outcome “shocking but all too predictable,” claiming it represented “an Establishment win for the government in a case too big for them to lose.”
Wider Investigations
The High Court ruling is not the end of scrutiny for Medpro. The National Crime Agency (NCA) has been investigating the company since 2021 over suspected criminal offences related to PPE procurement. Neither Mone nor Barrowman appeared in court for the latest ruling.
The government, meanwhile, has said it will continue working with administrators and “all relevant authorities” to reclaim taxpayer money.
A High-Profile Fall from Grace
Baroness Mone’s journey from celebrated entrepreneur to embattled peer has been dramatic. Rising to prominence in the late 1990s with the Ultimo bra, she was once hailed as a role model for working-class women in business.
In 2015, she was appointed the government’s entrepreneurship tsar before entering the House of Lords. The following year, she announced her relationship with Barrowman, a wealthy businessman with extensive corporate interests.
Today, however, her name is closely tied to one of the UK’s most controversial Covid contracts—a saga that has raised major questions about transparency, political influence, and profiteering during a national crisis.
What Happens Next?
PPE Medpro has until 15 October to pay the damages. With the company now in administration and its reported funds insufficient to cover the amount, it remains unclear how or if the government will be able to recover the full sum.
For Baroness Mone and Doug Barrowman, the ruling intensifies both legal and reputational pressures. For the public, it highlights the ongoing reckoning with how billions of pounds of taxpayers’ money were spent during the most desperate months of the pandemic.
As Chancellor Reeves summed it up:
“This money should never have ended up in private pockets—it belongs to the British people.”