PPE Medpro fails to meet deadline to repay Government almost £122m after ruling

A company linked to Baroness Michelle Mone has failed to meet a deadline to repay almost £122 million to the Government after it was found to have breached a contract for surgical gowns during the coronavirus pandemic, the Health Secretary has said.

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) successfully sued PPE Medpro, a consortium led by Lady Mone’s husband Doug Barrowman, earlier this year.

They claimed that it had breached the deal for the 25 million gowns as they were “faulty” due to not being sterile.

In a ruling earlier this month, Mrs Justice Cockerill found that the gowns “were not, contractually speaking, sterile, or properly validated as being sterile”, which meant they could not be used in the NHS.

She ordered them to pay back £121,999,219.20 and interest by 4pm on Wednesday, but the day before the ruling, PPE Medpro entered administration.

After the deadline passed, Health Secretary Wes Streeting said that PPE Medpro “has failed to meet the deadline to pay” and that interest on the sum was “now accruing daily”.

He said: “At a time of national crisis, PPE Medpro sold the previous government substandard kit and pocketed taxpayers’ hard-earned cash.”

He continued: “We will pursue PPE Medpro with everything we’ve got to get these funds back where they belong – in our NHS.”

PPE Medpro was also ordered to pay interest, which it is understood stands at £23,673,029.20, meaning the total figure owed is around £145.6 million.

Interest will accrue at a rate of 8% per year from Thursday until the money is paid.

A spokesperson for the consortium previously said that it was prepared to “enter into a dialogue” with the Government with a view to a “possible settlement”, but said earlier on Wednesday that it had not received a response.

They said: “On Friday October 11, it was made clear that the consortium partners of PPE Medpro are prepared to enter into discussions with the Government, via the administrators, to reach a possible settlement.

“This was made very public, and the Government was made aware of it.

“Yet, very disappointingly, the Government has made no effort to respond or seek to enter into discussions.”

It is understood that the consortium remains keen to engage with the Government on a settlement.

At a trial in June and July, barristers for PPE Medpro said it had been “singled out for unfair treatment” and accused the Government of “buyer’s remorse”, claiming the gowns became defective because of the conditions in which they were kept after being delivered.

Lady Mone then said on X the day before the ruling that the Government had made her and Mr Barrowman the “poster couple for the PPE scandal” and claimed it had turned down multimillion-pound offers to settle the case.

She also then criticised Mrs Justice Cockerill’s ruling, calling it a win for the “establishment”, while Mr Barrowman said it was a “travesty of justice”.

PPE Medpro still insists that it provided all 25 million gowns and disputes that the gowns were not sterile, and has also stated that the court made its ruling on a technicality.

Lady Mone, who created the lingerie brand Ultimo, which she sold in 2014, was made a Conservative peer by David Cameron in 2015.

She has faced calls to relinquish her peerage following the ruling from several high-profile politicians, but said in a letter to Tory leader Kemi Badenoch that she has “no wish to return” to the House of Lords as a Conservative peer.