Michelle Mone yacht Pandemic Profiteer

A yacht infamously linked to Conservative peer Michelle Mone has been ‘renamed’ by political protestors over a taxpayer-funded PPE controversy.

In a social media post uploaded yesterday (1 February 2023), campaigners from the British political campaign group Led By Donkeys reveal they recently located Lady M in a marina just south of Barcelona on the Catalan coast and pasted the moniker Pandemic Profiteer on its side — claiming “we’ve all paid for it”.

According to reports, the 38.9m luxury sailing yacht was put up for sale for £10.25m last year amid a National Crime Agency investigation into alleged links between Mone and the firm PPE Medpro, which allegedly supplied defective protective equipment to the NHS during the pandemic.

Mone has been accused of profiting from the firm, which won contracts valued at over £200m after she recommended it to ministers. Mone denies all of these accusations and has taken a leave of absence from the House of Lords while the investigation plays out. In 2021, Mone’s lawyer said it is “wholly untrue” that any proceeds from covid contracts were used to fund the yacht in question.

Speaking to journalists, the lawyer added: “The inference which you clearly wish to create is that our client has used her position to lobby the government to award lucrative contracts to companies ‘connected’ to her and then spent the proceeds on an expensive yacht … That is not only wholly untrue, but if repeated, is highly actionable as it is grossly defamatory of our client.”

Mone was once dubbed the “Layabout Lady of Mayfair” and was urged to resign after an attendance report revealed she had missed 88 per cent of days in Lords. In 2018, The Times reported she had turned up on 19 days out of a possible 157, missing key debates on important issues including Britain’s withdrawal from Europe.

In its video, Led By Donkeys says: “The Government says it can’t afford to pay nurses and other workers a fair wage. But there was enough money to dish out PPE contracts to Tory cronies.

“So here it is. We all paid for this yacht, and that’s why we’ve renamed it.”

The video then pans out to reveal the words “Pandemic Profiteer” decorating the yacht’s side.

The Conservative government is suing PPE Medpro for around £130 million over the supply of PPE during the pandemic. The firm has responded, saying that the Department of Health and Social Care is conducting a “cynical attempt to recover money from suppliers” who acted in good faith.

In January, HMRC named three schemes linked to Mone’s husband Doug Barrowman as tax avoidance.

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