Should Michelle Mone's Peerage be removed?

“Michelle Mone is Guilty”, a hardly flattering news article wrote. However, was she really? Michelle Mone was sworn into the House of Lords in 2015 as a Conservative life peer. There are claims that she used her position as a Lord to influence the decision to add PPE Medpro (a large corporation which sells Personal Protection Equipment) to the VIP NHS lane during Covid-19. This “VIP NHS lane” was used by the government to sign contracts with large PPE organisations in order to supply the NHS with much needed PPE during the Covid Pandemic. Michelle Mone supposedly then convinced the government at the time that PPE Medpro ought to be added to this lane, and the government subsequently bought £200m worth of PPE from this company.

The problem first arose when Mone’s husband, Douglas Barrowman, reportedly received £65m (of the £200m) from PPE Medpro according to leaked HSBC documents. He then transferred this vast sum of money into multiple offshore accounts, one of which Mone had access to, and which had, in turn, been supplied with £28.8m. All Lords are required to fill in a register of financial interest, in which they have to state companies which they either own, support or would benefit from were those companies to thrive economically (either on the stock market or in terms of returns made). Baroness Mone did not add PPE Medpro onto this register of financial interest.

With a sea full of evidence to prove Mone’s wrongdoing in a time of social distress and economic annihilation, it seems fair that her peerage be removed (removing Mone as a Lord). The Guardian commented on how Rishi Sunak “lacks the backbone”, and how he has repeatedly shown signs of weakness, for example when refusing to sack his home secretary. Sunak, who made a noble speech when he was appointed as Prime Minister, commenting on how Liz Truss had run the country extremely well under times of economic insecurity, further stated that he would pride himself on being honest to the population of the United Kingdom. Withdrawing Mone’s peerage could be done by Sunak (who is seen by all Conservative MPs as the party's last hope and thereby has their warranted support) at the drop of a hat and if Mone is proven definitely guilty, how will this reflect on Sunak’s integrity?

Article Writer - LexaNews Journalist