Michelle Mone sent aggressive Covid contract email, Matt Hancock says

Matt Hancock has accused Tory adjacent Michelle Mone of being assertive and threatening erstwhile trying to unafraid a authorities Covid declaration for a firm.

Mr Hancock said she asked for assistance to unafraid contracts successful an email successful June 2021, erstwhile helium was wellness secretary.

The Daily Mail reported the institution was not PPE Medpro, which has been linked to Baroness Mone and won authorities contracts worthy much than £200m.

Baroness Mone has been contacted for comment.

In his book, Pandemic Diaries, which is being serialised successful the Mail, Mr Hancock claimed the Glasgow-born businesswoman had demanded his "urgent help" with a company, which helium has not named.

On 18 June 2021, helium wrote: "Baroness Michelle Mone has sent maine an extraordinarily assertive email complaining that a institution she's helping isn't getting the multi-million-pound contracts it deserves.

"She claims the firm, which makes lateral travel trial kits, 'has had a dreadful time' trying to chopped done reddish portion and demanded my 'urgent help' earlier it each comes retired successful the media.

"'I americium going to stroke this each wide open,' she threatened.'"

"By the extremity of the message, she seemed to person worked herself into a implicit frenzy and was throwing astir chaotic accusations. 'I odor a rat here. It is much than the accustomed reddish tape, incompetence and bureaucracy. That's expected! I judge determination is corruption present astatine the highest levels'," helium said.

He added: "She concluded by urging maine to intervene 'to forestall the adjacent bombshell being dropped connected the government'.

"I work the connection again, stunned. Was she threatening me? It surely looked that way."

Mr Hancock said helium was told the tests had not won immoderate contracts due to the fact that they had not passed the standards required.

He said helium chose not to reply to the email, adding: "I won't beryllium pushed astir by assertive peers representing commercialized clients."

Baroness Mone, who joined the House of Lords successful 2015, is facing questions astir her alleged links to PPE Medpro.

The House of Lords commissioner for standards is investigating her "alleged involvement" successful procuring contracts for the company.

However, the commissioner says helium is incapable to finalise oregon people his study due to the fact that "the substance is nether probe by the constabulary oregon different bureau of a transgression investigation".

Properties linked to the institution person antecedently been searched by the National Crime Agency.

Between May and June 2020, PPE Medpro was awarded 2 authorities contracts worthy £203m to proviso masks and aesculapian gowns.

Emails released nether Freedom of Information laws amusement Baroness Mone referring the institution to a authorities curate during the pandemic.

Last month, Labour's lawman person Angela Rayner accused the authorities of a "total nonaccomplishment of owed diligence" and a "conflict of interest" successful awarding the contracts to PPE Medpro.

She was responding to an investigation successful the Guardian based connected leaked documents that alleged Baroness Mone had financially benefited from the company.

She told MPs it appeared "tens of millions of pounds" from the wealth awarded to the institution "ended up successful offshore accounts connected to the individuals involved".

At a Commons statement connected Tuesday, Labour volition effort to unit ministers to merchandise "all papers, advice, and correspondence" astir the authorities contracts awarded to PPE Medpro.

Asked successful December 2020 astir reports she was linked to the company, Baroness Mone's lawyers told BBC News she "had nary relation oregon relation successful PPE Medpro, nor successful the process by which contracts were awarded to PPE Medpro".

PPE Medpro said astatine the clip that it had delivered 100% of the declaration to the presumption specified and that it had supplied instrumentality "fully successful accordance with the agreed contract, which included wide presumption arsenic to method specification and show criteria of the products".

The Department of Health and Social Care has since been successful mediation with the steadfast implicit what it has described arsenic an "underperforming contract" and past period MPs were told that nary "satisfactory agreement" had been reached astatine this stage.