Tories Cash In Singing Mone-y Mone-y

The tens of billions expended on a test and trace system that seemed not to work may have been the tipping point: that moment when the wider public became unmoved by the scale of waste from alleged Prime Minister Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson and his pals. We may have been dismayed and disgusted at the largesse, but we were no longer surprised.

Phwoar! What a bank balance!!

That lack of surprise extended to the revelation of the so-called VIP Lane, whereby Bozo’s Government gave priority to companies with, shall we say, appropriate political connections, when it came to awarding contracts for PPE during the Covid-19 pandemic. And, as the Guardian has now revealed, one beneficiary appears to have been Tory peer Michelle Mone.

It had been suggested that she had lobbied repeatedly for a company called PPE Medpro, which then secured substantial Government contracts to supply PPE after apparently being placed in the VIP Lane. The value of those contracts was over £200 million. But what was in it for her and her second husband, billionaire financier Douglas Barrowman? Ah well.

The answer to that one shows just how much troughing the Tories and their pals have been enjoying, while most of the population languishes in an increasingly parlous financial state. “The Conservative peer Michelle Mone and her children secretly received £29m originating from the profits of a PPE business that was awarded large government contracts after she recommended it to ministers, documents seen by the Guardian indicate”.

HOW MUCH?!? But there’s more. “Documents seen by the Guardian indicate tens of millions of pounds of PPE Medpro’s profits were later transferred to a secret offshore trust of which Mone and her adult children were the beneficiaries”. Tens of millions moved in their general direction. As you do.

Do go on. “Asked by the Guardian last year why Mone did not include PPE Medpro in her House of Lords register of financial interests, her lawyer replied: ‘Baroness Mone did not declare any interest as she did not benefit financially and was not connected to PPE Medpro in any capacity’ …The leaked documents … appear to contradict that statement”.

The nuances of VIP Lane membership are explained to a wider audience

So from whom was the transferring done? “They state that Mone’s husband, the Isle of Man-based financier Douglas Barrowman, was paid at least £65m in profits from PPE Medpro, and then distributed the funds through a series of offshore accounts, trusts and companies”. What did she see in billionaire financier Douglas Barrowman? The ultimate Mrs Merton moment.

The Guardian has been doing its homework on this one, hasn’t it? “The ultimate recipients of the funds, the documents indicate, include the Isle of Man trust that was set up to benefit Mone, who was Barrowman’s fiancee at the time, and her children. In October 2020, the documents add, Barrowman transferred to the trust £28.8m originating from PPE Medpro profits”.

And the timeline? "That was just five months after Mone helped PPE Medpro secure contracts to supply masks and sterile gowns for use in the NHS”. So what say Baroness Mone of Mayfair in the City of Westminster? “A lawyer for Mone said: ‘There are a number of reasons why our client cannot comment on these issues and she is under no duty to do so’”. Max Sniffy speaks.

Jo Maugham of the Good Law Project mused “There are, I fear, many dozens of stories like this, implicating powerful Tory politicians, that the police will never investigate” before warning “The evidence is starting to emerge - there will be much, much more - of huge undisclosed financial benefit to Tory Peers from VIP PPE deals”. Bozo partied. Others made a lot of money.

Tory sleaze made the headlines in the 1990s. Now that so many in and around our free and fearless press are desperate to keep them in power, everyone bar the Guardian is saying nothing about the latest revelations. The Mail is so desperate to get its readers to Look Over There that its front page lead is about parking fines. The Express is revisiting dementia miracle cures.

And even though the story is now known, we are still not surprised.

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