TORY peer Michelle Mone has demanded Keir Starmer ends the “vendetta” against her after a firm linked to her was ordered to repay £122 million to the UK Government for breaching a contract to supply surgical gowns during the Covid pandemic.
In a letter to the Prime Minister, Mone told Starmer that remarks made by Chancellor Rachel Reeves should be retracted as they were “dangerous and inflammatory,” the Daily Record has reported.
During a Labour Party conference fringe event, Reeves reportedly joked about having a vendetta against Mone and her husband, Doug Barrowman, claiming “too right we do”.
Mone also accused the Labour Government of an “orchestrated campaign of intimidation and reputational destruction” and claimed she is now living in fear following the judge's vedict that a company linked to her must pay back the UK Government £122m.
On Thursday, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) sued PPE Medpro at the High Court over allegations that it breached a deal for the 25 million gowns because the items were “faulty” by not being sterile.
The peer, who is on a leave of absence from the Lords, has claimed she is the target of a “vendetta” by the UK Government.
In a letter to the Prime Minister, seen by the Daily Record, Mone said: “I feel compelled to alert you to the dangerous and inflammatory statement made by your Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves.”
Referring to Reeves “vendetta” claim, Mone wrote: “This is one of the most troubling interventions ever made by a senior Minister of the Crown.
“The statement was not directed at PPE Medpro as a corporate entity in civil litigation, but at me personally.
"It confirms that the machinery of the State is being deployed with the specific object of pursuing a vendetta against me, a private citizen and fellow Parliamentarian.”
Mone continued: “The Chancellor's deliberate use of the term ‘vendetta’, a word connoting vengeance, feud and blood feud, is incendiary and has directly increased the risks to my personal safety.
“Since she spoke, my social media has gone into meltdown with threats and abuse.
“My family and I now live with a heightened and genuine fear of appearing in public. You understand Members of Parliament face elevated risks; we need only look at the tragedies of Jo Cox and Sir David Amess to understand the dangers of such reckless language.
“This issue goes far beyond politics. It raises grave constitutional, legal and human rights concerns. Ministers of the Crown cannot openly declare vendettas against individuals without undermining the rule of law, judicial independence, and public safety."
In the letter, Mone also criticised the civil and criminal proceedings in relation to PPE Medro.
She also urged Starmer to correct the record as she added: “I must address an outright falsehood put on the Parliamentary record. You stated in Parliament that my children had received £29 million into their bank accounts. This is a total lie.
“You know this to be false because of the ongoing investigations. To repeat this defamatory claim in Parliament is not only a gross abuse of privilege but a deliberate attempt to smear my family and incite public hostility against my children, who are entirely innocent of any involvement in this matter.
Mone went on to say the consequences were “severe” and that following Starmer and Reeves statements she has received “highly threatening and abusive communications”.
“I attribute these directly to the campaign being waged by your Cabinet and your communications team to make this about me personally. I would like to remind you of the tragic case of Caroline Flack, which shows the fatal consequences of personalised public vilification,” Mone wrote.
“These actions amount to an orchestrated campaign of intimidation and reputational destruction. They constitute misfeasance in public office. They risk breaching my rights under Articles 6 and 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which include the right to a fair trial and the right to private and family life, free from unjust State intrusion and hostility."
She concluded by demanding an “immediate and formal withdrawal” of the Chancellor's statement and a “public clarification” there is no Government vendetta against her personally.
Mone, who created the lingerie brand Ultimo, which she sold in 2014, was made a Conservative peer by David Cameron in 2015.
PPE Medpro, a consortium led by Barrowman, was awarded Government contracts by the former Conservative administration to supply personal protective equipment (PPE) during the pandemic, after Lady Mone recommended it to ministers.
She then acted as the firm’s “big gun” in talks with officials to help get the contract over the line.
In her 87-page ruling, Mrs Justice Cockerill said that the gowns “were not, contractually speaking, sterile, or properly validated as being sterile” which meant they could not be used in the NHS.
