The government is under pressure to release records relating to a multi-million pound PPE contract linked to Tory peer Baroness Mone.
In the House of Commons, Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner hit out at a “total failure of due diligence” as she asked about PPE Medpro winning a contract for personal protective equipment and “profits made possible through the company’s personal connections to ministers”.
“Last night, documents seen by The Guardian revealed that yet another case of taxpayers’ money was wasted, a total failure of due diligence, and a conflict of interest at the heart of government procurement,” she said.
“In May 2020 PPE Medpro was set up and given £203 million in government contracts after a referral from a Tory peer.
“It now appears that tens of millions of pounds of that money ended up in offshore accounts connected to the individuals involved, profits made possible through the company’s personal connections to ministers and theTories’ VIP lane that was declared illegalby the High Court.”
Ms Rayner said there “are rightly separate investigations into Baroness Mone’s conduct, but the questions this case raises are far wider”.
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Michelle Mone, the Conservative peer who founded the lingerie brand Ultimo, is under investigation by the House of Lords Commissioner for standards.
Parliament’s website says this is over “alleged involvement in procuring contracts for PPE Medpro leading to potential breaches…of the House of Lords code of conduct”.
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Ms Rayner said the government was refusing to publish correspondence relating to the award of the Medpro contract because they are still engaged in a mediation process.
In an urgent question to health minister Neil O’Brien she asked if that mediation process has reached any outcome “and what public funds have been recovered, if any?”
Mr O’Brien said it was “widely reported it had an underperforming contract” and laid out the process the government would pursue.
“The first step is to send a letter before action which outlines a claim for damages.
“And that’s then followed by litigation in the event that a satisfactory agreement has not been reached.
“And to answer the right honourable lady’s question directly, we haven’t got to the point where a satisfactory agreement has been reached at this stage.”
Downing Street would not be drawn on the allegations around Baroness Mone.
Ms Rayner said that while today’s reports concern just one case “this government has written off £10 billion alone in PPE that was deemed unfit for use”.
“Ministers appear to have learned no lessons and have no shame. As families struggle to make ends meet, taxpayers will spend £700,000 a day on the storage of inadequate PPE.”
The government’s use of high priority lanes to speed up the award process for PPE contracts during the pandemic have been branded “VIP Lanes” by critics, with Labour previously claiming there is a “cash for access” culture within the Tory party.
But being referred to the high-priority lane “was emphatically not a guarantee of a contract and indeed, nearly 90% of offers referred through the route were unsuccessful”, the Downing Street spokesman said.
Baroness Mone has declined to comment on the latest allegations.
Donald Trump has criticised Vladimir Putin and suggested a shift in his stance towards the Russian president after a meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskyy before the Pope’s funeral.
The Ukrainian president said the one-on-one talks could prove to be “historic” after pictures showed him sitting opposite Mr Trump, around two feet apart, in the large marble hall inside St Peter’s Basilica.
The US president said he doubted his Russian counterpart’s willingness to end the war after leaving Rome after the funeral of Pope Francis at the Vatican.
In a post on his Truth Social platform, he said “there was no reason” for the Russian president “to be shooting missiles into civilian areas, cities and towns, over the last few days”.
Image: The two leaders held talks before attending the Pope’s funeral
He added: “It makes me think that maybe he doesn’t want to stop the war, he’s just tapping me along, and has to be dealt with differently, through ‘Banking’ or ‘Secondary Sanctions?’ Too many people are dying!!!”
The meeting between the US and Ukrainian leaders was their first face-to-face encounter since a very public row in the Oval Office in February.
Mr Zelenskyy said he had a good meeting with Mr Trump in which they talked about the defence of the Ukrainian people, a full and unconditional ceasefire, and a durable and lasting peace that would prevent the war restarting.
Other images released by the Ukrainian president’s office show Sir Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron were present for part of the talks, which were described as “positive” by the French presidency.
Mr Zelenskyy‘s spokesman said the meeting lasted for around 15 minutes and he and Mr Trump had agreed to hold further discussions later on Saturday.
Image: The world leaders shared a moment before the service
Image: Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy meet in the Basilica
But the US president left Rome for Washington on Air Force One soon after the funeral without any other talks having taken place.
The Ukrainian president’s office said there was no second meeting in Rome because of the tight schedule of both leaders, although he had separate discussions with Mr Starmer and Mr Macron.
The French president said in a post on X “Ukraine is ready for an unconditional ceasefire” and that a so-called coalition of the willing, led by the UK and France, would continue working to achieve a lasting peace.
There was applause from some of the other world leaders in attendance at the Vatican when Mr Zelenskyy walked out of St Peter’s Basilica after stopping in front of the pontiff’s coffin to pay his respects.
Image: Donald Trump and the Ukrainian president met for the first time since their Oval Office row. Pic: Reuters
Sir Tony Brenton, the former British ambassador to Russia, said the event presents diplomatic opportunities, including the “biggest possible meeting” between Mr Trump and the Ukrainian leader.
He told Sky News it could mark “an important step” in starting the peace process between Russia and Ukraine.
Professor Father Francesco Giordano told Sky News the meeting is being called “Pope Francis’s miracle” by members of the clergy, adding: “There’s so many things that happened today – it was just overwhelming.”
The bilateral meeting comes after Mr Trump’s peace negotiator Steve Witkoff held talks with Mr Putin at the Kremlin.
They discussed “the possibility of resuming direct negotiations between Russia and Ukraine”, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said.
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On an extraordinary day, remarkable pictures on the margins that capture what may be a turning point for the world.
In a corner of St Peter’s Basilica before the funeral of Pope Francis, the leaders of America and Ukraine sit facing each other in two solitary chairs.
They look like confessor and sinner except we cannot tell which one is which.
In another, the Ukrainian president seems to be remonstrating with the US president. This is their first encounter since their infamous bust-up in the Oval Office.
Image: The two leaders held talks before attending the Pope’s funeral
Other pictures show the moment their French and British counterparts introduced the two men. There is a palpable sense of nervousness in the way the leaders engage.
We do not know what the two presidents said in their brief meeting.
But in the mind of the Ukrainian leader will be the knowledge President Trump has this week said America will reward Russia for its unprovoked brutal invasion of his country, under any peace deal.
Mr Trump has presented Ukraine and Russia with a proposal and ultimatum so one-sided it could have been written in the Kremlin.
Kyiv must surrender the land Russia has taken by force, Crimea forever, the rest at least for now. And it must submit to an act of extortion, a proposed deal that would hand over half its mineral wealth effectively to America.
Image: The world leaders shared a moment before the service
Afterwards, Zelenskyy said it had been a good meeting that could turn out to be historic “if we reach results together”.
They had talked, he said, about the defence of Ukraine, a full and unconditional ceasefire and a durable and lasting peace that will prevent a war restarting.
The Trump peace proposal includes only unspecified security guarantees for Ukraine from countries that do not include the US. It rules out any membership of Ukraine.
Ukraine’s allies are watching closely to see if Mr Trump will apply any pressure on Vladimir Putin, let alone punish him for recent bloody attacks on Ukraine.
Or will he simply walk away if the proposal fails, blaming Ukrainian intransigence, however outrageously, before moving onto a rapprochement with Moscow.
If he does, America’s role as guarantor of international security will be seen effectively as over.
This could be the week we see the world order as we have known it since the end of the Second World War buried, as well as a pope.