The decision, made by a judge at a hearing on Thursday, could mean that the Government is unlikely to see most of the £148 million owed to it by the company after it was found to have breached a contract to supply 25 million surgical gowns during the coronavirus pandemic.
PPE Medpro, a consortium led by Lady Mone’s husband, businessman Doug Barrowman, had been ordered to pay the sum after losing a High Court battle against the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) in October.
But it filed for administration on September 30, the day before the ruling, with the money still unpaid.
At a hearing at the Insolvency and Companies Court on Thursday, barristers for the three joint administrators asked for PPE Medpro to be kept in…