Carol Vorderman has said she has dropped all her bad friends in a thinly veiled jab at Baroness Mone, an ex-confidant.
The former Countdown presenter said she had taken up offers from friends to go on a flurry of holidays after suffering an undisclosed health scare last year.
In an interview with the Sunday Mirror, the 64-year-old said: “I’ve had lots of mini-breaks and holidays with friends. I’ve been back to horse racing, I’ve travelled to the States, to France, to everywhere!
“I’ve had messages to say, ‘Oh come and stay in our villa’, or ‘Come and visit us on our boat’. It’s lovely to be so loved.”
She said it had been wonderful to rekindle friendships, adding: “I think I’ve managed to drop all the bad ones.”
Vorderman has made a series of scathing attacks on Lady Mone, her former friend, since accusations emerged about the latter profiting from personal protective equipment (PPE) contracts.
‘Cannot talk about useless PPE without talking about Michelle Mone’
Earlier this month, PPE Medpro, which is owned by a consortium led by Doug Barrowman, the lingerie entrepreneur’s husband, was found to have breached a government contract and was ordered to pay the Department of Health and Social Care £122m.
The company was awarded contracts worth £200m after its bid was fast-tracked by Lady Mone through a so-called VIP lane, but the government claimed surgical gowns provided by the company were defective.
Lady Mone has accused successive governments of scapegoating her to distract from mismanagement of PPE procurement during the pandemic.
Vorderman was once close with Lady Mone, who once credited the presenter with helping her through her divorce from her first husband.
But appearing on This Morning in Jan 2023, Vorderman said: “I cannot talk about useless PPE without also talking about Michelle Mone who was brought into the House of Lords, as a baroness, by David Cameron.
“We know she has taken leave of absence without losing the Tory whip to start with because she was actively involved, as it goes, with a company called PPE Medpro.
“Now Michelle Mone, I knew, many years ago and then dropped her like a stone as soon as I realised what kind of person she was,” before staring down the camera and saying: “Sue me, Michelle.”
Carol Vorderman says she ended the friendship with Lady Mone in 2011 – Jon Furniss
Appearing on Good Morning Britain previously, Vorderman claimed: “I knew her many years ago for about 18 months and dropped her as a friend because I realised just how much she lied.”
She later told James O’Brien’s Full Disclosure podcast that she had met Lady Mone at The Dorchester in London and ended the friendship in 2011, though photographs show them embracing at the Cheltenham Festival in 2012.
In June, Vorderman wrote on social media offering “free PR advice” on how to respond to allegations surrounding PPE contracts.
A source close to Lady Mone responded: “I really don’t understand why Carol has started this attack.
“What are the reasons – a hunger for publicity, or maybe her coming to the end of her TV career?”
Wes Streeting, the Health Secretary, has vowed to pursue PPE Medpro after the company missed its deadline to pay back the £122m plus interest of around £23m.
Earlier this month, a judge ordered PPE Medpro to pay back the money by Oct 15.
Reacting to Lady Mone’s defeat in the High Court, Ms Vorderman wrote on Instagram: “Yes at last.”
The value of assets in PPE Medpro, which was set up in the early weeks of the pandemic, dwindled to around £666,000 by the end of July, down more than £2m from the previous financial year.
The company entered administration a day before the ruling.
The amount owed by the company will continue to accrue interest of 8 per cent a year until the money is paid back.
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