PPE company linked to Michelle Moon misses £122m payment deadline | Michelle Moon
A company linked to former Conservative counterpart Michelle Moon has failed to pay the government any of the £122 million ordered by a High Court ruling to supply it with unusable personal protective equipment during the Covid pandemic.
Ms Justice Cockerill ruled that PPE Medpro must, by the deadline of 4pm on 15 October, return the money paid to it by the Department of Health and Social Care for 25 million sterile surgical gowns under a contract awarded in June 2020.
In response shortly before 5pm, Health Minister Wes Streeting said Medpro PPE had failed to meet the deadline and the government would pursue the company for payment. The DHSC said the interest, which had been worth £122 million since PPE gowns were rejected as unfit for use in late 2020, was now £23.7 million – making the total amount owed around £146 million.
“In a time of national crisis, PPE Medpro sold substandard former government equipment and pocketed taxpayers’ hard-earned money,” Streeting said. “PPE Medpro failed to meet the payment deadline – they still owe us more than £145 million, with interest accumulating daily.
“We will pursue Medpro PPE with everything we have to put this money back where it belongs – in our NHS.”
Interest will now accrue at an annual rate of 8%, DHSC said.
Questions remain about how the government will get its money back, as the company, owned by Moon’s husband, Isle of Man-based businessman Doug Barrowman, had little money and was placed into administration on September 30, a day before the ruling.
A spokesman for Barrowman and Mone said that “PPE Medpro consortium partners,” referring to three intermediary companies involved in supplying the gowns, “are prepared to enter into dialogue with company directors to discuss a potential settlement with the government.”
It appears that Labor did not address this proposal with a settlement discussion, and was waiting for the full amount to be paid by the deadline.
The DHSC awarded a £122m gowns contract to PPE Medpro, and another worth £80.85m for face masks – for a total of £203m – after Moon first approached then Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove in May 2020. The contracts were processed via a “VIP lane”, run by Boris Johnson’s Conservative government during the pandemic, which gave High priority for people with political connections. Moon was appointed to the House of Lords by David Cameron in 2015.
She and Barrowman denied through their attorneys for years that they were involved in Medpro PPE. In November 2022, The Guardian revealed that Barrowman took at least £65m of PPE Medpro profits, then transferred £29m into a trust set up for Moon and her three adult children.
In December 2023, Moon admitted in an interview with the BBC that the couple had lied and confirmed their involvement in the company. Barrowman admitted he received more than £60 million and transferred the money to the trust. His children were also beneficiaries, the couple said.