TORY peer Michelle Mone’s infamous yacht has been "renamed" the “pandemic profiteer” in a daring political protest.
Campaign group Led By Donkeys said the move came after it found the “Lady M” in a marina just south of Barcelona on the Catalan coast.
According to reports, the yacht was put up for sale for £10.25 million in September last year amid a National Crime Agency investigation into alleged links between Mone and the firm PPE Medpro.
Reports, denied by the Tory peer, have suggested that she may have profited from the firm winning contracts worth more than £200 million to supply equipment after she recommended it to UK ministers.
Mone took a leave of absence from the House of Lords amid media scrutiny of the allegations.
In a video published on social media showing them targeting Mone’s yacht, Led By Donkeys said: “The Government says it can’t afford to pay nurses and other workers a fair wage. But there was enough money to dish out PPE contracts to Tory cronies.
“So here it is. We all paid for this yacht, and that’s why we’ve renamed it.”
We've found Michelle Mone's yacht pic.twitter.com/Eflhc7fpOG
— Led By Donkeys (@ByDonkeys) February 1, 2023
A camera shot shows the yacht has been decorated with the words “pandemic profiteer”.
In 2021, Mone’s lawyer said that it was “wholly untrue” that any proceeds from Covid contracts had funded the yacht.
They told journalists: “The inference which you clearly wish to create is that our client has used her position to lobby the government to award lucrative contracts to companies ‘connected’ to her and then spent the proceeds on an expensive yacht … That is not only wholly untrue, but if repeated, is highly actionable as it is grossly defamatory of our client.”
The Tory government is suing PPE Medpro for some £130 million over the supply of personal protective equipment during the coronavirus pandemic.
However, the firm accused the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) of a “cynical attempt to recover money from suppliers” who acted in good faith.
In January, three schemes linked to Michelle Mone’s husband, Doug Barrowman, were named as “tax avoidance” by HMRC.
And in December, it was reported that Barrowman is facing the threat of more than five years in prison if he is found guilty of fraud charges levied against him in Spain.
Mone was approached for comment.
