Guardian’s David Conn wins Paul Foot award for Michelle Mone investigation

The Guardian reporter David Conn has won the Paul Foot award for investigative journalism for his report on a Tory peer’s use of a government “VIP lane” to provide PPE during the Covid pandemic.

Conn and the Guardian’s investigations team reported last year that Michelle Mone and her children secretly received £29m originating from the profits of a PPE business that was awarded large government contracts after she recommended it to ministers.

Leaked documents suggested that Mone’s husband, Douglas Barrowman, was paid at least £65m in profits from the company, PPE Medpro.

Katharine Viner, the Guardian’s editor-in-chief, hailed Conn as a “fantastic reporter who has kept digging away at this story with dogged determination, despite many people getting in his way”.

She said: “Guardian investigations go from strength to strength and I’m delighted David has had this recognition.”

Conn, the newspaper’s investigations correspondent, told the awards ceremony on Tuesday night: “It is a privilege to be on a long-list like this.

“It was a husband and wife and they each had a separate lawyer, plus there was another lawyer for the company. Every time we did anything there were three lawyers.

He added: “Just to say thanks to the editors, because you can’t do these things without the absolute backing at the highest level.

“You have to have our lawyers totally [involved] and totally committed.”

Mone and Barrowman have previously denied any involvement in PPE Medpro or any role in the process through which it was awarded government contracts.