'We'll get British taxpayers' money back': Labour minister warns Michelle Mone as he calls on Tories to revoke peerage

Stephen Kinnock, Minister of State for Care, told Nick Ferrari at Breakfast that Baroness Mone "should not be in the House of Lords" any longer, calling on Tory leader Kemi Badenoch to take action.

Wednesday marked deadline day for the lingerie entrepreneur, after a firm she was linked to was ordered to repay £122m for supplying defective PPE at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) successfully sued PPE Medpro, a consortium led by Lady Mone's husband Doug Barrowman, earlier this year over claims it breached a deal for 25 million surgical gowns during the coronavirus pandemic.

But despite mounting pressure, the firm failed to pay up by the stated deadline.

"She should not be in the House of Lords... it's up to the Leader of the Opposition and the Conservative Whips to deal with that issue," Mr Kinnock told LBC on Thursday.

"My message to her today is our lawyers have been instructed and we are coming after her with everything that we have got," he continued.

"And we will get the British taxpayers money back."

Lady Justice Cockerill ruled earlier this month that the company had breached the contract as the gowns were not sterile, and ordered it to pay back £121,999,219.20 by 4pm on Wednesday 15 October.

However, despite widespread attention, PPE Medpro has not met the deadline to pay back the funds, the Health Secretary told LBC on Wednesday.

It comes a day after it was confirmed that her last remaining company, MGM Media, had been dissolved, leaving her with no firms operating in her portfolio.

The Tory peer insisted in recent days she had been victimised by the government, penning a letter to the PM.

It comes as former Tory Chancellor, Nadhim Zahawi, branded Mone's actions "disgraceful".

"She should leave the House of Lords immediately and between her and her husband should actually find the money.

"They tried, I think during the trial, to settle... They should find the full amount and pay it back," he insisted.

Recent weeks have seen the peer suggest she had been the 'victim' of a government campaign against her.

Writing to the PM following an exchange in the commons on the subject of PPE, Baroness Mone wrote:: "I feel compelled to alert you to the dangerous and inflammatory statement made by your Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves.

"The statement was not directed at PPE Medpro as a corporate entity in civil litigation, but at me personally.

"It confirms that the machinery of the state is being deployed with the specific object of pursuing a vendetta against me, a private citizen and fellow parliamentarian."

In response, a Conservative Party spokesman said: "Baroness Mone has not been in receipt of the Conservative whip since she took a leave of absence from the House of Lords, and she is not a Conservative Party member.

"Baroness Mone was formally written to yesterday by the Lords Chief Whip, and informed that she would not receive the Conservative whip were she ever to return.

"Under Kemi Badenoch’s leadership, the Conservative Party expects parliamentarians to maintain the highest standards, and on this Baroness Mone has fallen well short."

LBC has reached out to Baroness Mone for comment.

The Health Secretary criticised the Mone's firm further: "At a time of national crisis, PPE Medpro sold the previous government substandard kit and pocketed taxpayers' hard-earned cash."

He continued: "We will pursue PPE Medpro with everything we've got to get these funds back where they belong - in our NHS."

An application to put the company into administration was lodged earlier late last month, with PPE Medpro having just £666,000 in assets.