Michelle Mone has finally admitted she lied about the tens of millions of pounds profit they stand to make from their shameful PPE deal

A truly despicable woman.

PPE: I am not sure that the manufacturer - the Baroness's husband is entirely at fault here. In February 2020 I saw on TV Chinese people wearing masks. With experience, that alarmed me, and being disabled and having a carer, I went on eBay and ordered masks and gloves. I asked some sellers in UK if the masks were CE certified and they said ''We don't need it, we left the EU. THAT WAS WRONG. We were still tied to the EU to 31/12/2020 and until then, we had to conform to EU rules, that all things manufactured had to pass EU certification, Everything. I also subscribed to the Government daily update emails, which are still being sent out.

During the first week of the pandemic, one of those emails said that it was illegal to make, sell or give away PPE which did not have the CE label. If non-certified PPE was used, the NHS could be sued for cross contamination, whether right or not.

Hospital Trust managers failed to maintain stocks of PPE for emergency. Local Authority Emergency Planning Committees were the same. Britain did not have enough PPE, and now, we could not get them, because Europe was keeping their stocks for themselves. You cannot blame them.

I can only surmise the civil servants advising the Minister of Health did not know that we still belonged to the EU and that it was illegal to manufacture PPE in this country until 2021.

The Government acted illegally by contracting with any manufacturer to make PPE in UK in 2020, because no manufacture was able to certify it with the CE logo. It takes months if not years to be in a position to make them.

They should never have placed the contracts in the first place, according to the directive given to everyone in the daily covid emails. The manufacturer should have known that we were still bound by EU rules that said we cannot make PPE to EU standards. eBay got the message right away, and sales of non-certified PPE were withdrawn from sale on that site. Fortunately I had already ordered mine, which had been dispatched. Residential Care Homes were not so fortunate.

The Government commandeered all the UK stocks of PPE for the NHS, and nothing certified was available to care home staff, which is why thousands died. Not until 2021 when we were no longer bound by EU law, did anyone have masks, and only then because someone called them 'face coverings'. Think how many lives could have been saved if they were so named in 2020.

Most of the blame must go to the Government for signing contracts in the first place. The fact that they chose the company of a Member of the House of Lord's husband, is really a minor part of the scandal. Not all manufacturers were away of the CE labels, but ignorance of the law is not a defence. The Baroness might not have known, because we now know that the civil servants did not pass on the vital knowledge to MPs that we were still part of the EU until much later. True, the buck stops at the Government ministers, and they should have known. Certainly the civil service knew, because they issued that covid update email in March 2020.

The pair have done themselves no favours with this Prince Andrew style car crash of an interview. I suspect many people were only vaguely aware of this issue but they’ve now put it full frontal and revealed themselves as self entitled money grabbers who’ve shown no remorse or shame. Another politician who thinks they don’t have to live by the rules or standards applicable to the rest of us

...so, we have to ask who is responsible for wasting £200m of tax payer's money? Was it the Government, or the manufacturer?

If the inquiry finds that the manufacturer overpriced the PPE, then that is not the same thing. If the manufactured goods were stored and produced in 2021, then they could be used. The Duchess has a responsibility to declare the contracts, legal or otherwise, to both Houses.

That the Government did not know what the civil service was putting out in the daily updates is deplorable. They are probably now between a rock and a hard place: if they didn't bother reading the updates before they agreed them, then they are lazy fools. If they did know that it was illegal to make PPE in this country, then they deliberately flouted the law.

Is it right that we should have confidence in a Government that is manipulated by the civil service? Should we be confident that in future the Ministers actually read for themselves what the civil servants are writing?

Is the Duchess and her husband the Government's red herring, to cover up their own stupidity?

MaizieD The PPE was not fit for use because it did not conform to EU standards and we were still in the EU until 31/12/2020, something very few people knew.

If it was kept it could have been used in 2021 when we had left the EU as far as manufacturing items which did not need a CE label.

Moan or Mone is not a duchess but a baroness, so a bit further down the ‘aristocratic’ line ( thanks mr google).

llizzie2 My understanding is that the PPE wasn't double bagged (as required by the NHS) and therefore was deemed not sterile.

It's still in storage, so could be used if it were only a case of not having a CE label.

The standards for surgical PPE, which have to protect both the wearer and the patient in a sterile environment are rightly higher than for regular PPE which is intended to protect the wearer. Leaving the EU should not be an excuse for lowering such standards. How can one family take £60m profit from the taxpayer for substandard goods and think that is ok is beyond me.

I was told by a nurse that PPE has a limited shelf-life with regard to sterility therefore large quantities could not stockpiled in case of an emergency.

I think Michelle Mone is only the tip of the iceberg. She could bring quite a few others down with her.

growstuff

AFAIK Mone and her husband are still being investigated by the National Crime Agency. I don't know what on earth is behind the BBC giving her a platform for her sob story.

I suspect that the BBC are pleased with the result of that interview. There are many people who still think that the govt did well with its PPE supply and track and trace. At least now Mone's wrongdoing will get to more of the public following today's headlines in the red tops.

growstuff

I think Michelle Mone is only the tip of the iceberg. She could bring quite a few others down with her.

This, yes. In this sense, she is a scape goat. But I am certainly NOT excusing her!

Fleurpepper

growstuff

I think Michelle Mone is only the tip of the iceberg. She could bring quite a few others down with her.

This, yes. In this sense, she is a scape goat. But I am certainly NOT excusing her!

Neither am I, but the thieves seem to be turning on each other.

Not only does (clinical) PPE have a limited shelf life it takes many many years to breakdown once discarded.

I spent a large part of my working life sourcing PPE (clinical and industrial) from February 2020 and the duration of the pandemic it really was a dog eat dog situation for both purchasing and selling.

Those manufacturing high grade clinical PPE could price point 100-600% higher than December 2019.

growstuff

Maizie The 30% wasn't even a return on investment.

The return on their investment will be much greater. I imagine that they commissioned the goods and paid for them out of the sale proceeds so no cost to them. I also wonder how much they paid in director's (or plural) remuneration. Were their adult children directors? Were there any contributions in to a pension scheme? All the above expenses will be deducted before arriving at the profit figure.

This sounds very like the Michael Matheson scandal. £11,000 roaming charges he tried to claim as Scottish government business was actually accrued by his sons watching football! It wasn't his fault. He didn't know they were using his government issue Ipad as a mobile hotspot? Pull the other one!

I've just scanned the Wikipedia account of her life and business. This PPE scam is by no means the only evidence of dodgy dealing on her part.

To be fair £11k for his sons watching football is not in the same league as £60m profit.

MaizieD The PPE was not fit for use because it did not conform to EU standards and we were still in the EU until 31/12/2020, something very few people knew.

That's completely unbelieveable, llizzie2. We were still in 'transition' in 2020, when all EU regulations applied. Anyone in government, or connected with government (which, of course includes the civil service and any other public employees), and manufacturers of PPE would be well aware of the need for CE mark.

In fact, that hasn't changed, as far as I am aware, because the planned UK quality mark has never taken off and the CE mark is still used to indicate conformity with EU standards. Manufacturers need this, anyway, if they are exporting to the EU and it would be ridiculous to be differentially labelling goods for export to the EU from goods for the ROW or for domestic use.

Many 'ordinary' voters were also well aware that we were still, to all intents and purposes, in the EU until the end of 2020.

A key reason for the initial shortage of PPE was the fact that the tories had outsourced management of the pandemic stockpile to a private contractor and they hadn't been rotating the stock properly, so masses of it was out of date. Had we had a properly managed stockpile our PPE supply problem would have been considerably less.

There were very many experienced long term British PPE manufacturers, whose goods would have conformed to the necessary standards, who contacted the government with offers to increase supply,but who were completely ignored. I understand that many exported their PPE instead.

This was well publicised at the time.

growstuff

I think Michelle Mone is only the tip of the iceberg. She could bring quite a few others down with her.

I do hope so. 🙏

I notice that Mone has tweeted and suggested that Sunak (who isn’t supporting her) has profited unfairly from Moderna.

She's blaming Michael Gove for approving five years supply of PPE when only four months was needed.

Roll up! Rollup!

The Christmas number 1 could be "Rats in a sack".

Indeed. Mone is turning on Sunak. Twitter very interesting at the moment. Bethell who lost WhatsApp messages applicable to covid19 enquiry has now published one on twitter while trying to wriggle out of involvement in Mone controversy. It is dated during the period of his "lost" messages. Oops

Jane Godleys got it again

twitter.com/JaneyGodley/status/1736722491165343781?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1736722491165343781%7Ctwgr%5E865fb702f3d938cbad4d1b882be22f7a6cf4e802%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.thelondoneconomic.com%2Fnews%2Fpriceless-voiceover-of-michell-mones-bbc-interview-hits-a-million-views-in-24-hours-365364%2F

Fleurpepper

Jane Godleys got it again

twitter.com/JaneyGodley/status/1736722491165343781?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1736722491165343781%7Ctwgr%5E865fb702f3d938cbad4d1b882be22f7a6cf4e802%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.thelondoneconomic.com%2Fnews%2Fpriceless-voiceover-of-michell-mones-bbc-interview-hits-a-million-views-in-24-hours-365364%2F

I was just going to post this