Michael Gove could be called before Covid inquiry over Baroness Mone PPE row

Michael Gove is likely to be called to give evidence to the Covid inquiry over his role in the Baroness Mone controversy, i understands.

Lady Hallett’s inquiry into the pandemic is expected to call up a number of current and former ministers involved in government contracts for PPE at the height of the pandemic, including the then Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Mr Gove.

The inquiry is to begin investigating the issue of PPE procurement, and the extent to which there was a special fast-track for companies with links to the government, in spring next year.

It is unlikely the inquiry would call Lady Mone to give evidence herself as she is already subject to a number of separate investigations.

Mr Gove was one of a number of ministers approached by Lady Mone in 2020 with an offer to supply PPE equipment to the NHS.

The peer, who is suspended from the House of Lords while she is under investigation over the affair, revealed in a BBC interview on Sunday that Mr Gove had responded to her offer by saying “this is amazing”.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has urged the government to “come clean” over what ministers knew about the scandal.

Lady Mone launched a series of attacks on the Prime Minister and other government figures on social media on Monday after her interview with Laura Kuenssberg in which she admitted lying to the media about her links to MedPro, the company which supplied PPE to the government during the pandemic.

After Rishi Sunak said he takes the scandal involving Lady Mone “incredibly seriously”, the peer tweeted: “What is @RishiSunak talking about? I was honest with the Cabinet Office, the Government and the NHS in my dealings with them.

“They all knew about my involvement from the very beginning.”

She later posted a Guardian story from 2020 which suggested there was a potential link between Mr Sunak’s former hedge fund and the vaccine company Moderna, and wrote: “Does Rishi Sunak stand to profit from the Moderna Covid vaccine during the pandemic?

“I suggest that he might want to take that ‘incredibly seriously’ before pointing fingers to save his own skin!”

Lady Mone also claimed Mr Gove, the Department of Health and its permanent secretary Sir Chris Wormald had “some very serious questions to answer” over the PPE controversy.

She added: “They oversaw huge waste in PPE contracts. They have both had questions to answer for a very long time.”

Asked about her admission she did not tell the truth about her links to the company, Mr Sunak said: “The government takes these things incredibly seriously, which is why we’re pursuing legal action against the company concerned in these matters.”

“But it is also subject to an ongoing criminal investigation. And because of that, there’s not much further that I can add.”

Energy Security Secretary Claire Coutinho said that Lady Mone will “want to consider her position very carefully,” telling LBC: “We’ll have to see what the investigations show.”

Lord Callanan, an energy minister in the House of Lords, said Lady Mone should not return to the Upper Chamber.

Lady Mone has taken a leave of absence from the Lords and it was also reported that she is no longer a member of the Tory party.

Lord Callanan told Sky News: “I would hope that she would not be coming back to the House of Lords.”

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The Labour leader described the controversy as a “a shocking disgrace from top to bottom”, adding: “I think that there are now serious questions that I think Michael Gove, the government, needs to answer.

“Who made the original contact? What was the nature of that discussion that led to the situation that we now learn developed…

“I don’t think she should be in the Lords. I think the government should be held to account for this.”

The Liberal Democrats called for an inquiry into the controversy.

The Government last December issued breach of contract proceedings against PPE Medpro over the 2020 deal on the supply of sterile gowns. The firm is defending the legal action.

The party’s Cabinet Office spokesperson Christine Jardine said: “The endless stream of allegations and disclosures surrounding this Conservative government is painful.”

The company is also being investigated by the National Crime Agency into suspected criminal offences in the procurement of PPE contracts.

The Covid inquiry declined to comment on future witnesses.