Disgraced Mone puts luxury flats up for rent days after admitting lying over PPE link
From the trendy wine fridge to the designer artwork and underfloor heating, it’s clear that a fortune has been lavished on one majestic Glasgow refurbishment.
The stunning interior in question belongs to a townhouse bought by a company linked to Tory peer Michelle Mone and her husband, Doug Barrowman – after their PPE Medpro venture banked £203 million of public cash.
In the months that followed the pay-outs, offshore firms connected to the couple splashed out on a £10 million portfolio on one of Scotland’s most wellheeled streets, as The Sunday Post revealed earlier this year.
Nine properties were bought on Glasgow’s Park Circus between December 2020 and August 2022, with more than £3 million spent on a single day in May 2021. Now one of the apartments is on the market with an eye-watering monthly rent of £4,950.
Several others have also been advertised to prospective tenants while another is being converted into apartments.
It means the companies linked to the couple – Breck Ltd, Bagshaw Ltd and Preaban Ltd – could soon be raking in upwards of £500,000 in rent every year. Last night, a Glasgow property expert, who wishes to remain anonymous, told The Sunday Post: “Park Circus properties are a goldmine, pretty much the safest bricksand-mortar you can invest in the city. There are always high-end individuals looking to rent so they are rarely empty for long. “Meanwhile, prices are going up over time so you’re making money on the property itself that way too. If you own several, you will make a fortune. Just sit back and watch the cash roll in.”
PPE Medpro landed government contracts to supply hospital gowns and masks in 2020 after Baroness Mone lobbied Conservative ministers for Covid deals.
Leaked paperwork suggested it later paid Barrowman £70 million, who then handed £29 million of it to a trust set up to benefit her and her children. Coincidentally, the couple subsequently enjoyed an extraordinary spending spree including a luxurious honeymoon on the Maldives, a private jet, yacht and racehorse.
We told how companies linked to Barrowman’s Knox Group offshore business empire on the Isle of Man amassed a £10 million portfolio of assets on the millionaires’ row of Park Circus, popular with Old Firm footballers and Glasgow University academics. One of the Victorian Grade A-listed townhouses was converted into luxurious flats while planning permission was won to turn another into five apartments.
Now several have been offered up for rent. The latest on the market is a fullyfurnished three-bedroom upper flat, at a monthly rent of £4,950.
The letting agent describes it as “undoubtedly one of the most exclusive addresses in Glasgow” with hilltop views of the city. Other Knox-owned properties recently out for rent included two threebedroomed flats at £6,500 and £5,750 per month respectively, and a two-bedroom for £3,250. Together, the four would net the companies £245,400 a year.
A fifth has been registered for letting while conversion work is expected to bring a further five to market soon.
Mone, 52, and Barrowman, 58, consistently and strenuously denied any link to PPE Medpro.
However, the Glaswegian couple have now admitted their role in the company – he as the chief investor and chairman, she as the intermediary who brokered contact with the government.
In recent interviews, Mone claims she lied to the Press to shield her family from public attention.
She originally earned a fortune from her Ultimo bra range and was made a Tory peer by David Cameron in 2015.
Last year, the National Crime Agency raided the pair’s palatial home on the Isle of Man as part of their ongoing investigation into PPE Medpro.
Mone has also temporarily stepped down from the Lords.
Ministers are suing to reclaim £122 million from the company as they claim much of the equipment it supplied was defective. Last week, it emerged that the couple’s London townhouse – complete with an indoor pool, gym, spa and cinema – has been sold for £19 million.