Michelle Mone: Viewers share reaction to BBC interview

THE social media sphere is spinning after Michelle Mone dropped in on Laura Kuenssberg on Sunday morning to tell all with husband Doug by her side.

Now, when I say tell all, I mean "tell all" through their very blurry, reality-shifting, rose-tinting, blame-skirting glasses.

It was quite unbelievable to watch Mone and Barrowman tell their tale with absolute conviction they are correct, have done nothing wrong, and that what they have done is justified.

Mone admitted she did not tell the truth about her links to PPE firm Medpro, but insisted that she and her husband have “no case to answer”. She also said she did not mean to fool anyone, despite admitting the couple misled the press about their involvement. 

There was no mention of the threats to journalists, coincidentally.

It was a binfire of an interview.

Who had the idea for the couple to do a Prince Andrew-style interview? Did they watch that car crash in preparation for this?

Some think so.

“Still, was interesting to see what Prince Andrew's communications adviser did next in their career,” said National columnist Andrew Tickell after the interview.

Tickell later posted: “Extra credit belongs to whoever came up with the suggestion to go with 'but we don't have the money. It's just resting in our trust fund.' Just superb." 

“Wouldn't it all bring a tear to a glass eye? *sniffle*," he joked.

Emily Maitlis, the journalist who interviewed Prince Andrew and revealed the exclusive story on his reported trip to Pizza Express wrote: “It’s a very funny line isn’t it?

"So much easier to say, ‘lying to the press’ than ‘lying to the public’ on whose behalf those questions about the shamelessly missing millions were being asked …”.

While Mone attempted to pull the wool over viewers eyes by telling them, "I wasn’t trying to pull the wool over anyone’s eyes", viewers took to social media to share their disdain.

One user wrote: “Let's be realistic; they saw an opportunity to make a pile of cash - while people were dying by the thousand - and gorged themselves. And when they got caught, they lied repeatedly about it."

Author Hannah Burnes called listening to Mone “quite extraordinary”, adding: “’All we did was lie to the press’. Yes, and threaten journalists who worked to expose the truth with legal letters, knowing those letters were lies. Thankfully, those journalists didn’t cower under those threats.”

READ MORE: Humza Yousaf reacts to Michelle Mone interview

Commentator Narinder Kaur added: “Michelle Mone and her blubbering husband are so deluded they actually thought this interview would clear them. In fact, it's just confirmed what we all knew - you made millions through lying to Parliament. You have no intention of giving that money back. You are criminals.”

Writer and former policy adviser Adam Schwarz added: ”That interview was a PR catastrophe for Michelle Mone. Didn’t disclose contract when rules required it as 'nobody told me'. 

"Threatened journalists with defamation for telling truth to 'protect her family'.

"Claimed she only benefits from cash if [her] husband dies before her."

Mone is currently, still, facing a criminal allegation of bribery as part of a long-running investigation by the National Crime Agency into her involvement with PPE Medpro.

A final word from Adam Blinken, the political editor of the Byline Times – one of the publications Mone threatened: “Does anyone else currently under investigation for criminal allegations of bribery and fraud get the chance to set out their case on national television?”