Summary

  • A company linked to Baroness Michelle Mone must repay the government £122m for breaching a contract for medical gowns during the Covid pandemic

  • PPE Medpro, which was set up by a consortium led by Mone's husband, Doug Barrowman, was paid millions to supply the gowns

  • But the protective equipment has been in storage since 2020 after the company failed to prove they were correctly sterilised

  • The High Court ruled in the government's favour - but said they couldn't reclaim the £8m cost of storage

  • Barrowman's spokesman calls the judgement a "whitewash", and insists they proved the gowns were sterile - Mone says the judgement required a "quantum leap of faith"

  • Mone - who recommended the company to the government through the "VIP lane" - initially denied being linked to PPE Medpro, but admitted to the BBC in 2023 that she had lied about not being involved

Live Reporting

Edited by Rorey Bosotti and Owen Amos, with reporters at the High Court

  1. Judge explains background to case

    Mrs Justice Cockerill starts by saying she will be reading out a press summary for the court but underlines this "forms no part of the court's decision" and the full judgment is the only authoritative document.

    She explains the case arose from a contractual dispute regarding the sale of sterile surgical gowns.

    She adds that in mid-2020, during the pandemic, the government sought to procure such gowns which PPE Medpro offered to supply.

    After they arrived in the UK, the Department of Health and Social Care formed the view they were not compliant with the contract.

  2. Judge enters courtroom
    Breaking

    Mrs Justice Cockerill has just walked in to the court room and started delivering her judgment.

    Stay with us as we bring you all the key lines.

  3. Michelle Mone and PPE Medpro: A timeline

    Doug Barrowman and Michelle Mone at the racesGetty Images

    PPE Medpro is a consortium led by Mone's husband Doug Barrowman

    April 2020: As Covid deaths increase, the government sets up a "VIP lane" to contract firms to supply personal protective equipment to the NHS

    June 2020: PPE Medpro is awarded two contracts by the government - the first for £80.85m to supply 210m face masks and a second for £122m to supply 25m sterile surgical gowns

    December 2020: Lawyers for Baroness Mone say she "had no role or function in PPE Medpro, nor in the process by which contracts were awarded to PPE Medpro". The same month, the Department of Health rejected the gowns

    November 2021: The government releases documents confirming Baroness Mone was the "source of referral" for PPE Medpro. The files show she contacted Cabinet Office Minister Lord Agnew to refer the company to the VIP lane

    December 2022: The government sues PPE Medpro claiming the medical gowns supplied "did not comply with the specification in the contract"

    December 2023: Michelle Mone and Doug Barrowman acknowledge their role in helping PPE Medpro secure the contract, with Mone saying she could eventually benefit from the profit of around £60m

    Michelle Mone speaking to the BBC in 2023

  4. Who is Michelle Mone?

    Michelle Mone holding up her OBE medal outside Buckingham PalacePA Media

    Born in her own words "into nothing", Michelle Mone was raised in the Dennistoun area of Glasgow. She left school at 15 with no qualifications but a determination "to make something of myself".

    In 1999, she talked her way into Selfridges in London, and won a deal to sell her gel-filled Ultimo bra. She and first husband Michael re-mortgaged their house and went £70,000 into debt to develop the product.

    After more than 20 years together, the Mones divorced in 2011. Michelle bought Michael out of the business and became the face and body of the brand, modelling her own lingerie.

    She had been a Labour supporter but moved to the Conservatives in 2010. In 2015, Prime Minister David Cameron made her an "entrepreneurship tsar" - within weeks it was announced she was to become a Conservative peer, as Baroness Mone of Mayfair.

    In 2016, Mone announced she was in a new relationship with Doug Barrowman, a billionaire businessman. They settled in the Isle of Man, and worked together in the crypto-currency sector.

    She lost the Conservative whip after her links to PPE Medpro emerged and has taken a leave of absence from the House of Lords.

    READ MORE: A self-created fairy story: The rise and fall of Michelle Mone

  5. High Court judge to rule on Michelle Mone-linked PPE contract

    A High Court judge is about to rule on whether a company linked to Baroness Michelle Mone breached a £122m government contract to supply surgical gowns during the Covid pandemic.

    PPE Medpro, a consortium led by Mone's husband Doug Barrowman, was awarded a contract to supply PPE to the NHS through a so-called "VIP lane".

    The government confirmed in November 2021 that the peer was the "source of referral" for PPE Medpro.

    But Department of Health rejected the gowns in December 2020, saying PPE Medpro "did not comply with the specification in the contract" as they were not sterile – a claim the company denies.

    In an interview with the BBC in 2023, Mone apologised for initially saying she was not linked to the company.

    The peer also conceded she and her family could benefit from tens of millions of pounds of profit from the contract.

    Mrs Justice Cockerill will rule on the case from 10:30 on Wednesday. Court records showed that PPE Medpro filed a "notice of appointment to appoint an administrator" on Tuesday.

    Our reporters are in court to bring you the latest on the judgement and to break down the ruling – stick with us.