Michelle Moon has hit back at the former Conservative health minister after he accused her of not being honest with him during the pandemic about her financial interests.
James Bethell has challenged her Conservative counterpart’s disgraced claim that she told people in government about her ties to PPE Medpro, a consortium led by her husband, while he was bidding for contracts from which the company made millions of pounds in profits.
On Monday, in response to her post on
In an apparent dig at Bethel due to the criticism he faced after it emerged he replaced his phone during the pandemic, Moon X answered On Tuesday morning: “It seems you’ve mysteriously discovered access to your text messages from 2020. Now you’ve finally found them, are you going to send them all to the Covid investigation?” Moon attached a popcorn emoji.
An angry row broke out on Monday between Moon and the government over how much she knew about her links to PPE company Medpro, which made multi-million-pound profits from a contract to supply personal protective equipment (PPE) during the pandemic. Moon admitted in an interview with the BBC on Sunday that she had not been honest in denying her relationship with MedPro PPE.
She also claimed that the Cabinet Office, which was headed by Michael Gove at the time, the Government and the NHS “were all aware of my involvement from the beginning” before awarding her husband’s company contracts worth £203m.
When Sunak was asked during a trip to Scotland on Monday about Moon’s admission that she had not told the truth about her involvement in the company, he replied: “The government takes these matters incredibly seriously, which is why we are taking legal action against the company.” The company concerned with these matters. That’s how seriously I take it and the government takes it.
“But the matter is also the subject of an ongoing criminal investigation, and for that reason, there is not much more I can add.”
The Guardian investigations found that Moon and her husband, Doug Barrowman, were involved in PPE Medpro, which was awarded contracts in May and June 2020 after it approached ministers, including Gove, to offer to supply PPE.
Moon remains a member of the Conservative Party, according to the House of Lords, despite No 10’s claim that she lost the whip “de facto” because she took leave when the scandal broke. It emerged on Monday that she was no longer a member of the party.
The Guardian has learned that the House of Lords Standards Commissioner has received a further complaint over Moon’s admission that she lied to the media. The regulatory body has already begun an investigation into this case.
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