The scandal surrounding Baroness Mone’s involvement in a PPE firm has led to calls for her to leave the House of Lords for good.
The lingerie entrepreneur admitted in a BBC interview with Laura Kuenssberg that she lied when she repeatedly denied having links to the firm PPE Medpro, which had contracts worth more than £200 million with the government during the Covid pandemic.
Now Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has called on the Government to answer “serious questions” about the situation.
He said: “I don’t think she should be in the Lords. I think the Government should be held to account for this.”
Asked about the issue, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said: “The Government takes these things incredibly seriously, which is why we’re pursuing legal action against the company concerned in these matters.
“That’s how seriously I take it and the Government takes it.”
We take a look at Baroness Mone’s status in terms of the House of Lords and her peerage.
Is Michelle Mone still a baroness?
The 52-year-old was made a life peer by former prime minister David Cameron in 2015.
In December 2022, the Glasgow-born businesswoman took leave of absence from the House of Lords in order to “clear her name” of allegations regarding personal protective equipment (PPE) that had been levelled against her.
Baroness Mone is currently the subject of an inquiry by the House of Lords Commissioners for Standards’ Office for alleged involvement in procuring contracts for PPE Medpro, leading to potential breaches of the House of Lords Code of Conduct.
PPE Medpro is also being investigated by the National Crime Agency into suspected criminal offences in the procurement of PPE contracts.
And the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has issued breach of contract proceedings over the 2020 deal on the supply of gowns.
But Michelle Mone remains a member of the House of Lords and continues to hold the title of baroness.
A House of Lords spokesperson told i: “Baroness Mone is still a Member of the Lords and holds that title.
“A Member can be expelled from the House of Lords, but they would not stop being a Baroness.”
How could a peerage be removed?
According to a House of Lords spokesperson: “A peerage can only be removed by an act of Parliament.
“The most recent act that did this was the Titles Deprivation Act 1917 (TDA).”
The TDA, which received royal assent on 8 November 1917, was used to remove British peerages from “enemies” of the UK during the First World War.
The act meant any peer suspected of assisting the enemy could be investigated by a committee of the privy council, who would then lay a report in both Houses of Parliament for 40 days.
If this period elapsed without either House tabling a motion disapproving the report, the report would be taken as final and presented to the monarch.
The peer would then be struck off the peerage roll and would have all rights to receive a ‘writ of summons’ and sit in the House of Lords removed.
And on 28 march 1919, the London Gazette published the names of four people who had their peerages removed under the act.
There were:
- Leopold Charles, Duke of Albany, Earl of Clarence and Baron Arklow;
- Ernest Augustus, Duke of Cumberland and Teviotdale, Earl of Armagh;
- Ernest Augustus, Duke of Brunswick, Prince of Great Britain and Ireland; and
- Henry, Viscount Taaffe of Corren and Baron of Ballymote.
There have been no new laws introduced to remove peerages since the TDA.
Can a peerage be relinquished?
A life peerage cannot be relinquished, but the House of Lords Reform Act 2014 enables a life peer to resign from being a member of the House.
There are also limited circumstances where hereditary peerages can be ‘disclaimed’.
The Peerage Act 1963 enables hereditary peers to renounce their titles for life.
Tony Benn was the first person to renounce a hereditary peerage under the act.