That vile, lying Tory peer, Michelle Mone

[BusLanes]

How many other countries had VIP procurement lanes and have they had similar scandals?

I can't say I've done any sort of search but I do read some other English speaking countries media regularly and haven't seen similar. Don't get me wrong there are loads of COVID fraud stories but not official VIP lane stories

 

[Mezzer]

Rather surprising Times article: https://archive.ph/1XzfN

 

[Silas Loom]

Rather surprising Times article: https://archive.ph/1XzfN

Surprising in what way? Peck is the new Westminster sketchwriter; that’s his usual tone.

 

[TopCat]

I’m a bit shocked at the brazenness of this overall.

 

[SpookyFrank]

I’m a bit shocked at the brazenness of this overall.

It's a bit weird how just this one instance of brazen gifting has been singled out when there was such a huge feeding frenzy of profiteering, created and enabled by the government.

At the time I think there was just too much of this shit going on for the press to find just one story to zero in on. I'm glad the Mone thing is being pursued again but I don't hold up much hope for the court case. It should be pretty easy to prove that the government knew Mone was behind the company she was plugging, knew they had no experience procuring medical stuff, knew (or should have known) they were paying massively over the odds.

 

[SpookyFrank]

How many other countries had VIP procurement lanes and have they had similar scandals?

I can't say I've done any sort of search but I do read some other English speaking countries media regularly and haven't seen similar. Don't get me wrong there are loads of COVID fraud stories but not official VIP lane stories

You get this sort of shit in Russia but even there they understand the requirement to cover it up, at least a bit. They probably wouldn't, for example, come up with the phrase 'вип lane' and then allow it to become public knowledge.

 

[likesfish]

Thing was actual PPE company's and people who had a factory that could actually make stuff got shut out of the process in favor or randoms who wanted a big fuck off check to buy shit from China .
even the MoD does a better job and they got fooled by accuracy international hiring a factory and some machines*

*accuracy international won the contract for the armys new sniper rifle when they were two blokes in a shed.
hired a factory and a machine and preusded the MoD person who came to check they weren't two blokes in a shed!
Unlike Mone and Co they did produce a world beating rifle

 

[ruffneck23]

 

[Smokeandsteam]

It's a bit weird how just this one instance of brazen gifting has been singled out when there was such a huge feeding frenzy of profiteering, created and enabled by the government.

At the time I think there was just too much of this shit going in for the press to find just one story to zero in on. I'm glad the Mone thing is being pursued again but I don't hold up much hope for the court case. It should be pretty easy to prove that the government knew Mone was behind the company she was plugging, knew they had no experience procuring medical stuff, knew (or should have known) they were paying massively over the odds.

Yes, the 'crime' Mone seems to be accused of is not recording the fact that she would indirectly benefit in the Lord's members interests book. But the idea that the Government/Depatment of Health didn't know that she was involved is patently stupid. Of course they did, and she appears to have evidence that she spoke to Gove and senior officials on multiple occasions about it (anxious not to miss out on the free money no doubt).

The rest of it - the access to the fast lane, the rampant profiteering, the supply of unusable goods and using her position in Government to gain access is both obvious and was occurring on an industrial scale. So, whilst it's obviously right that she answers for all of that the basic question remains - why aren't the rest of them, including Sunak, Hancock, Gove and the dozens of MP's and Lords, who did the same and were in even more influential positions?

 

[Smokeandsteam]

It seems Mone has tumbled that she’s the sacrificial lamb and intends to defend herself through the tactic of mutually assured destruction.

 

[Silas Loom]

It seems Mone has tumbled that she’s the sacrificial lamb and intends to defend herself through the tactic of mutually assured destruction.

Rats in a sack

 

[Chilli.s]

Going after these grifting chiselers is an easier target than benefit fraud, and more money to recover, and more able to pay huge fines. Begs the question why not

 

[Sue]

Going after these grifting chiselers is an easier target than benefit fraud, and more money to recover, and more able to pay huge fines. Begs the question why not

Not really.

 

[not-bono-ever]

She’s a piece of shit but I suspect she might be getting more shit because she’s a woman.the boys don’t usually get this kind of forensic mebbes. Either way, she can fuck off

 

[likesfish]

Think the pub landlord should be getting shit as well.

 

[brogdale]

Getting properly dirty, now...

 

[redcogs]

i thought Moan and partner were as slippery as a bucket of eels during the recent Kuensberg interview. Being slippery and arrogantly entitled as fuck is some combination of unpleasantness. Heads on sharp pikes was my main thought.

 

[DaveCinzano]

The ex-copper advising them now also in the firing line:

Revealed: journalist behind Michelle Mone film also worked as private investigator on her behalf

Mark Williams-Thomas worked on behalf of Mone, her husband and PPE Medpro to help try to identify a suspected leaker

www.theguardian.com

 

[DaveCinzano]

The ex-copper advising them now also in the firing line:

Revealed: journalist behind Michelle Mone film also worked as private investigator on her behalf

Mark Williams-Thomas worked on behalf of Mone, her husband and PPE Medpro to help try to identify a suspected leaker

www.theguardian.com

‘What conflict-of-interest between my being paid as a secret investigator to winkle out the presumed whistleblower who revealed that the Mones had been lying their arses off the whole time, my being paid as a PR flack by the Mones, and my being paid as a completely independent journalist making my own documentary about the Mones?’

Kind of up there with ‘We only lied about our family getting shitloads of money from the PPE VIP Line trough because if we'd told the truth everyone would have been interested in our family getting shitloads of money from the PPE VIP Line trough’ as psycho-tier not getting it

 

[elbows]

The ex-copper advising them now also in the firing line:

Revealed: journalist behind Michelle Mone film also worked as private investigator on her behalf

Mark Williams-Thomas worked on behalf of Mone, her husband and PPE Medpro to help try to identify a suspected leaker

www.theguardian.com

Looks like he'll also be taking part in dropping others in it too...

 

[elbows]

Under the magic PPE tree, I sold you and you sold me.

 

[brogdale]

Under the magic PPE tree, I sold you and you sold me.

few beers into Tuesday, so apols if this is dumb question...but, does the enquiry's remit cover this venal corruption?

 

[brogdale]

Guardian is now leading with her lawyer's grovelling apology for "misleading" the press; outstanding defence:

 

[Lurdan]

The ex-copper advising them now also in the firing line:

Been questions about him for quite a while. From last week's Popbitch

The patsy paid to host this risible bit of client journalism was Mark Williams-Thomas: the self-styled media investigator best known for breaking the Jimmy Savile story.

Why would a man with a profile like his agree to front such obvious propaganda? Well, MWT is no stranger to a bit of shady backroom dealing himself. In his time, he's been investigated for blackmail, was the driving force behind the disastrous Cliff Richard paedo raid, and was excoriated by the judge in the collapsed third trial of Jonathan King. One of the things the judge took particular objection to in that case was MWT taking his notebooks home with him when he left the police force. Then selling the names, addresses and statements of witnesses in an active celebrity sex abuse investigation to journalists – asking for a fee that was "commensurate" with the "significant risk" he'd taken in sneaking the material.

One of the people interviewed for Mone's infomercial is not enormously happy xtwitter link

David Oliver @mancunianmedic
only it turns out that Mark Williams Thomas and his team made the Youtube documentary without making it in any way clear to experts like me who were interviewed in good faith that we would be used to try and lend credibility to your cause or that your company was funding them
5:15 PM • Dec 13,2023

He posted the approach he received from the production company xtwitter link

Hello David,
I hope this email finds you well.
I am working with a high-profile, award-winning reporter, and we are making a number of short reports as part of a mini-series surrounding the nature of PPE during the Covid Pandemic. We are doing some general filming and are currently in development - filming as part of our investigations. We are very' balanced and will seek to explore and understand the many aspects of the PPE issues during the covid-19 pandemic.
I have read your Lack of PPE betrays NHS clinical staff article and think it is heavily interesting and definitely something which I would to explore more.
I would like to invite you to speak to us in an interview situation about the PPE shortage and about the findings you found during this time. For example, I read in the article that The Doctor s Association UK listed over 200 cases of staff being threatened, bullied, unsupported, silenced, or warned for speaking up over PPE in their organizations.'
We would like this interview (which will last no longer than an hour), to be held on the morning of Thursday 10th in Oxford.
We will only discuss information already in the public domain and we have obtained a lot of information via press requests and other companies, but would love to explore your story*.
I do hope this is something you would be interested in
Thank you very much.
I hope to hear back from you soon.

"high-profile, award-winning reporter" ROFL.

 

[andysays]

i thought Moan and partner were as slippery as a bucket of eels during the recent Kuensberg interview. Being slippery and arrogantly entitled as fuck is some combination of unpleasantness. Heads on sharp pikes was my main thought.

We're going to need a whole lot more sharp pikes before this is over...

...and I'm happy to take on the contract to supply as many sharp pikes as are needed, no questions asked, despite having no experience, knowledge or or connections in the pike manufacture and/or supplying department

 

[A380]

We're going to need a whole lot more sharp pikes before this is over...

...and I'm happy to take on the contract to supply as many sharp pikes as are needed, no questions asked, despite having no experience, knowledge or or connections in the pike manufacture and/or supplying department

Don't tell him your name...

 

[DaveCinzano]

It seems Mone has tumbled that she’s the sacrificial lamb and intends to defend herself through the tactic of mutually assured destruction.

Getting properly dirty, now...

View attachment 404952

Looks like he'll also be taking part in dropping others in it too...

Rats in a sack

 

[weltweit]

I doubt she will get away with it money grubbing crook that she is.

Reading my own contributions to this thread I am a little confused.
My thinking at the moment is Government were flapping about like a fish out of water, for some reason they didn't trust NHS Purchasing and Mone and her husband stepped in with an offer.

Was her PPE even of the required standard? I heard some debate about that.

Mone's PPE was up to standard.

Well these deals are likely to sink her, question is whether they will also sink Sunak?

Michelle Mone Admits She Lied But Says She’s a “Scapegoat”

The peer tells the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg that she stands to benefit from £60m PPE profit.

www.bbc.co.uk

After seeing the BBC interview I am less sure of my ground.

It seems the PPE was of merchantable quality.

They agreed a deal, supplied it and were paid. Perhaps she didn't update the Lords register of members interests, so what?

 

[teqniq]

Reading my own contributions to this thread I am a little confused.
My thinking at the moment is Government were flapping about like a fish out of water, for some reason they didn't trust NHS Purchasing and Mone and her husband stepped in with an offer.


Mone's PPE was up to standard.





They agreed a deal, supplied it and were paid. Perhaps she didn't update the Lords register of members interests, so what?

You are exceedingly naive if you believe this:

VIP Lane contracts inflated by £925m - Good Law Project

goodlawproject.org

 

[FridgeMagnet]

The stuff her (husband's) company supplied was in the "do not use" list.