MICHELLE Mone has hit out at the media’s “ridiculous obsession” with her personal life following reports she and her husband have slashed the price of some of their major assets.
It comes after Doug Barrowman, Mone’s husband, issued a statement on New Year’s Day in which he said his family had been “treated like a punchbag by the media” as coverage over the PPE scandal surrounding the pair continues.
Mone previously admitted she made an “error” in publicly denying her links to the PPE Medpro firm being investigated by the National Crime Agency.
PPE Medpro was awarded Government contracts worth more than £200 million to supply personal protective equipment after she recommended it to ministers.
She repeatedly denied that she had profited from the deal before admitting she is a beneficiary of her husband's financial trusts, which hold around £60m of profit from the deal.
The National Crime Agency is investigating allegations of conspiracy to defraud, fraud by false representation and bribery in relation to the company PPE Medpro although Mone and her husband have denied any allegations of wrongdoing.
In a report published on Wednesday, the Daily Mirror reported the couple were having “an £80 million fire sale of their luxury houses, private jet and superyacht”.
Mone did not deny the story, but insisted that assets are bought and sold at "any given moment" in her husband's "world".
The media’s ridiculous obsession with every tiny detail of my personal life continues to reach desperate and absurd levels. At this rate, I’m surprised the Daily Mirror hasn’t sent an email asking to know how many bras and knickers I own! This is yet again another futile… pic.twitter.com/xyaOpecyNt
— Lady Michelle Mone (@MichelleMone) January 3, 2024
Responding to the report on Twitter/X, Mone said: “The media’s ridiculous obsession with every tiny detail of my personal life continues to reach desperate and absurd levels.
“At this rate, I’m surprised the Daily Mirror hasn’t sent an email asking to know how many bras and knickers I own!
“This is yet again another futile attempt to distract from my husband’s robust fightback against the PPE allegations on Jan 1st.”
The post was followed by a lengthy statement in which Mone said: “Surprise surprise, more adverse background noise from some of the national newspapers today on the so-called sale of assets from my husband’s family office.
“Sorry to disappoint everyone, but that’s what happens in my husband’s world. At any given time, assets are bought as well as sold.
“It’s unbelievable how these newspapers continue to lap up the leaks and lies from Govt spin doctors and the establishment in general.”
The statement continued to say that “we have them all worried the real truth is now being exposed” and again hit out at the UK Government.
Mone (above) continued to say that “this is one of the biggest modern-day fiascos” in Government procurement.
“As my husband Doug made clear in his January 1 statement, the real story is the shocking waste of taxpayer money on PPE procurement.
“£9 billion out of £13.1 billion was wasted on PPE that was either defective or never used. To the contrary, Medpro’s goods were duly delivered on time and in accordance with relevant technical specifications.”
The statement further hit out at “investigative journalists who stalk us on a daily basis” and dismissed the stories about her and her husband as “background noise”.
We previously told how a legal expert said Mone had played “high-risk games” by having lawyers issue legal threats to the press when the PPE Medpro story was first covered.
