Michelle Mone has admitted she stands to personally benefit from a £60 million profit a consortium led by her husband made from providing personal protective equipment (PPE) during the pandemic.
The lingerie tycoon and Conservative peer had repeatedly denied to the press about her involvement in the controversy.
In an interview with the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg today, Mone said she had “lied” to journalists protect her family.
Mone’s husband, Doug Barrowman, said his consortium, PPE Medpro, had agreed PPE contracts worth £202 million with the government following the Covid outbreak.
He said that had generated a £60 million profit, which is now held in a family trust.
The government is now suing PPE Medpro for breach of contract.
Asked why she had denied any involvement in the controversy, Mone said: “I wasn’t trying to pull the wool over anyone’s eyes, and I regret and I am sorry for not saying straight out ‘yes I am involved’ because [the Department of Health], the NHS, the Cabinet Office, they all knew of my involvement, but I didn’t want the press intrusion for my family.
“My family have been through hell with the media over my career and I didn’t want another big hoo-ha in the media.”
But Kuenssberg told her: “This wasn’t just a slip-up. You didn’t tell the truth for months on end.”
Mone replied: “I think if we were to say of anything we’ve done - we’ve done a lot of good - but if we were to saying anything that we have done that we are sorry for, and that’s we should have told the press straight up straight away, nothing to hide, and again I’m sorry for that. But I wasn’t trying to pull the wool over anyone’s eyes.”
Mone - who took a leave of absence from the House of Lords a year ago - insisted that the £60 million PPE profit is “not my money”, but her husband said: “If I die, one day in the future, she is going to directly benefit.”
Mone said: “If one day, if God forbid my husband passes away before me, then I am a beneficiary as well as his children and my children, so yes of course.”
She also claimed she and her husband have been used as “scapegoats” by the government.
“We’ve done one thing, which was to lie to the press to say we weren’t involved. No one deserves this.”
She added: “The only error that I have made is say to the press that I wasn’t involved.”
Elsewhere in the interview, the couple confirmed that they are under investigation by the National Crime Agency (NCA) over allegations of conspiracy to defraud, fraud by false representation, and bribery.
Lib Dem MP Christine Jardine demanded that Rishi Sunak strip Mone of the Tory whip in the House of Lords.
She said: “It is jaw-dropping that Michelle Mone has admitted lying to the country over this shameful PPE scandal and is now trying to play the victim card.
“She repeatedly denied she would make money from this contract, now it emerges she’s set to profit to the tune of millions.
“Rishi Sunak was too weak to withdraw the Conservative whip from Baroness Mone when this scandal emerged last year. He must finally do the right thing now.
“The Prime Minister should kick Michelle Mone out of the Conservative Party and withdraw the whip if she has the gall to return to the Lords.”