Covid inquiry rejects last-minute bid from Michelle Mone

Doug Barrowman, who led PPE Medpro, pictured alongside his wife Baroness Michelle Mone.

The Covid inquiry has rejected a last-minute bid that would have allowed Baroness Michelle Mone and her husband Doug Barrowman to access documents and other evidence about PPE deals in the pandemic.

Last week both individuals asked to become 'core participants' to the inquiry - a legal status which also gives the right to make statements and apply to ask questions of witnesses.

PPE Medpro, led by Mr Barrowman, was awarded government contracts worth more than £200m during Covid after Baroness Mone recommended the firm to ministers.

The inquiry has already ruled that evidence about the company will be heard in private later this month to avoid prejudicing an ongoing National Crime Agency (NCA) investigation. Baroness Mone, 52, and Mr Barrowman, 59, have denied wrongdoing.

To date, no criminal charges have been brought and the NCA has not instructed the Crown Prosecution Service.

The Covid inquiry has now opened four weeks of public hearings into the supply and distribution of £15bn of PPE and other medical equipment in the pandemic.

On February 27, Baroness Mone, Mr Barrowman and PPE Medpro wrote to the inquiry saying they had a significant role in proceedings and they "may be subject to explicit and significant criticism".

They also argued they had concerns about the conduct of the NCA, which has been investigating PPE Medpro since May 2021.

As core participants they would have been granted access to documents and other witness evidence provided to the Covid inquiry. Participants must sign a confidentiality agreement and use that information only for inquiry purposes.

The inquiry's chair, Baroness Hallett, rejected the couple's approach saying she does not accept they had a large enough role "in the matters to be investigated by the inquiry".

She also said their application was made after a November 2023 deadline.

"Whilst Medpro was a significant supplier of PPE to the UK government, it was but one of a number of such suppliers and there are several other contracts that the inquiry is investigating," she said.

Baroness Hallet has previously said she will not take evidence directly from representatives of firms involved in supplying PPE, an approach which has angered groups representing bereaved families.

Instead her main focus is on the approach of ministers and the government, she added.

VIP lane

PPE Medpro was one of dozens of companies which won government contracts after being referred through the so-called VIP lane - officially known as the high priority lane.

Introduced in April 2020, the idea was to fast track offers to supply PPE if they came with a recommendation from ministers, MPs, members of the House of Lords, or other senior officials.

At the time the government said there was a "desperate need" to protect health and social care staff, and it was argued swift action was required to secure PPE.

New research for the Covid inquiry found almost a third of government contracts to buy masks, gowns and other equipment went through the VIP lane.

Data showed that, of the 430 offers made in that way, 115 were successful. Those firms were 17 times more likely to win a contract than those outside the VIP lane system.

Peter Munro, policy manager at the UK Anti-Corruption Coalition, a group made up of procurement, transparency and contract specialists, said the latest data "confirmed some of our worst fears".

"PPE procured through the high priority lane was 80% more expensive than PPE procured through other channels, and half if it was unfit for purpose," he said.