Thread by @docrussjackson

#THREAD

Leaked emails suggest Tory peer Michelle Mone lobbied a health minister on behalf of a company seeking Covid contracts – five months after the point at which her lawyers said she had stopped doing anything for the firm!

But who is she? Well...

theguardian.com/world/2022/mar…

In October 2020 it was revealed that PPE Medpro, a company led by Anthony Page, a business associate of Mone & her husband Doug Barrowman, had been awarded a contract for £122MILLION to supply personal protective equipment (PPE) to the #NHS during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In October 2020, a spokeswoman for Mone stated she "has no role or involvement in PPE Medpro", adding: "Mr Barrowman is also not involved in the company PPE Medpro & is not a Director or Shareholder." It later emerged that a second contract for £80 million was awarded to Medpro.

In November 2021, a FOI request revealed that Michelle Mone personally recommended the company to the government through its VIP fast-track lane for firms with political connections, & that the company had been awarded £200MILLION in government contracts.

It transpired that Mone had recommended Medpro for a Govt contract five days before the company had been formed! At the time, Mone's lawyers stated that she "was not connected to PPE Medpro in any capacity" but a company director was a long term employee of her husband's company!

In November 1996 she founded MJM International with her then-husband Michael.

In 2014, a former operations director for MJM won a claim for unfair dismissal from her company after discovering that Mone had authorised electronic bugging of his office!

Michelle Mone threatened to sue her critics when it was revealed her company MJM International had paid a substantial sum of money into a controversial tax avoidance scheme, criticised by then Chancellor George Osborne as "morally repugnant".

Following a test case brought by HMRC against Rangers FC, the employee benefit trust (the type of tax avoidance scheme used by MJM International) was ruled illegal in November 2015. In August 2015, Mone resigned her directorship of MJM.

TrimSecrets were weight loss pills originally formulated by the naturopath, Jan de Vries. The product also consisted of diet & exercise advice.

In 2006 MJM formed a joint venture with Jan de Vries, taking a 50% share in the product.

Mone claimed exercise & reduced caloric intake had no effect on her weight, crediting TrimSecrets pills with her weight loss. She incorrectly claimed the efficacy of the product had been proven in 'clinical trials' (60 users did a questionnaire - she couldn't find the results).

In October 2013, Jan de Vries sold his interest in the company with Mone having 60% of the business & a silent business partner the remaining 40%. In August 2015 it was reported that the company had made a loss in each of the last four years that accounts were available.

In November 2015, Mone was criticised for using her "Baroness Mone"-styled Twitter account to promote TrimSecrets pills, although a spokesman for Mone said she had disposed of her ownership of the firm before her tweet.

A spokesman for the British Dietetic Association said "there is no scientific basis or rationale for these products, they are making claims which are unfounded & feeding into public confusion around nutrition & pseudo-science."

huffingtonpost.co.uk/2015/11/27/mic…

Mone says she had previously supported the @UKLabour Party, but withdrew her support in 2009 after the PM, Gordon Brown, increased the top income tax rate to 50%, & further stated that Brown & his government mismanaged the country's finances during the global economic crisis.

In true Tory style, during the London riots in August 2011, Mone called for the army to be brought in & tweeted "People who riot, steal, cover face deserve zero human rights". Delightful, just the kind of level-headed democracy-loving person the Tories want in the House of Lords!

Mone was criticised when her first vote in the HoL was to vote against a motion to delay Govt cuts to tax credits of around £1,300/year for three million low-income families. Mone responded by tweeting that people should "work hard" & not "look for excuses" for their own poverty.

In 2019, Mone married BILLIONAIRE Douglas Barrowman. In December 2021, a wealth manager of Indian heritage accused Mone of sending racist text messages to him after the two were involved in a 2019 yachting incident in Monaco, which resulted in the death of a person.

He said Mone called him "a waste of a man's white skin" via text. A spokesperson for Mone said she was not racist because "Baroness Mone & her husband have built over 15 schools in Africa". Her lawyers said Mone could not access her messages & had no "detailed memory" of them.

The allegations of racism were disregarded by the House of Lords Commissioner for Standards as they were made in a personal capacity, but in January 2022 the MET announced they were investigating the incident following allegations of a racially aggravated malicious communication.