.jpg)
.webp)
The Guardian view on crony capitalism: a moral
corruption stalks parliament
Editorial
The country is in trouble if during a national
emergency the economy could be so easily rigged to favour connected insiders
‘The revelations about Lady Mone show just how much
strain the upper house and British state institutions have been put under by
the current political dispensation.’ Photograph: PA
Thu 24 Nov 2022 18.56 GMT
Crony
capitalism in the House of Lords is not a good look for Britain. Yet during the
Covid crisis, there appeared to be a strong case that political access allowed
privileged individuals to extract a great deal of wealth from the state. On
Wednesday, the Guardian produced astonishing evidence for those wishing to
prosecute this argument. It suggested that Michelle Mone, a Tory peer, her
husband, Douglas Barrowman, and her children secretly received £65m originating
from the profits of PPE Medpro, a company that was awarded large government contracts
during the pandemic after she recommended it to ministers. If capitalism during
a national emergency can be so easily rigged to favour connected insiders then
the country is in trouble.
The
government lubricated such questionable deal-making by setting up a “VIP lane”
into which suppliers recommended by politicians or officials were fast-tracked.
PPE Medpro’s business was referred to the VIP lane after Lady Mone contacted
the ministers Michael Gove and Lord Agnew to offer help in May 2020. A few weeks
later, the government contracted to pay the firm £203m for protective equipment
for the NHS. A court later said that the VIP lane was unlawful. Perhaps worse,
it was ineffective. The government is now in dispute over millions of surgical
gowns supplied by PPE Medpro that it says were not up to scratch. PPE Medpro
insists its products passed inspections.
Lady Mone
was appointed as a lifetime peer by David Cameron in 2015. Her arrival on the
Tory benches raised eyebrows, given her previous support for Labour. Others
questioned her business credentials, given her lingerie business had lost money
(it went under in 2018). But the Tory peer was undeterred, selling jewellery on
a home shopping channel and promoting herself as a cryptocurrency expert. Lady
Mone’s conspicuous success has been hard to miss recently, with a lavish
lifestyle of luxury yachting, an expanding property portfolio, a honeymoon in
the Indian Ocean and a wedding featured in Hello! magazine. The peer, however,
denies becoming fantastically rich by profiting from a company she lobbied to
be awarded state contracts.
Lady Mone
is being investigated by the Lords commissioner for standards after being
accused of failing to declare an interest in PPE Medpro. The firm is also being
pursued by HM Revenue and Customs, apparently for unpaid taxes. It says that it
will “pay in full” if any outstanding monies are owed. The Mone family
properties have been raided by the National Crime Agency, which is
investigating potential fraud relating to the company. The National Audit
Office thought that £1.4bn of spending through the VIP lane is “at risk” of not
achieving value for money.
The whole
episode reeks of a contempt for government. Peerages should not be just a means
to personal – or ideological – ends. Neither should they be doled out to
wealthy business people in return for bankrolling political parties. The Lords
has become imprudently bloated, now with over 800 peers. Leaks suggest that Sir
Keir Starmer will abolish the upper house and replace it with a new elected
chamber as part of plans to “restore trust in politics”. Many peers perform a
valuable role by calmly scrutinising and amending legislation that has often
been rushed through the Commons. However, the revelations about Lady Mone show
just how much strain the upper house and British state institutions have been
put under by the current political dispensation. Moral corruption at the heart
of the British parliament is a morbid symptom for liberal democracy itself.
Sem comentários:
Enviar um comentário