News outlets and spin doctors are having a field day with pictures and “news” about the lingerie tycoon who was granted a peerage by David Cameron in October 2015.
At the time, she said: “I helped the Prime Minister with the referendum and in keeping the Union together. That was tough, but it had the most rewarding results.”
Over the next seven years, public records show she attended the Lords on 203 days and claimed £33,134 in daily attendance allowance from the taxpayer. On many occasions, especially during the Covid pandemic, she attended virtually and did not receive a payment.
When she was made Baroness Mone of Mayfair, she was said to be worth around £20 million thanks to her business career, notably the success of her bra firm Ultimo.
She married the Scottish businessman Douglas Barrowman in December 2020, who founded the Knox Group of Companies. He is said to have six homes, a collection of 15 cars and a private jet.
Lady Mone began a leave of absence from the Lords in December 2022 amid the scandal around PPE Medpro’s lucrative Covid contracts. The couple are said to have personally made tens of millions as a result.
Earlier this week, the High Court in London ruled that PPE Medpro broke its contract in providing faulty sterile gowns and issued a repayment order for £122m. However, the firm is now thought to be worth just a few hundred thousand pounds.
Both Lady Mone and her husband are both under investigation by the National Crime Agency, and she also faces a parliamentary investigation for her role in lobbying Tory ministers.
Labour and the Tories are both in agreement that Lady Mone must not return to the Lords, with Labour peer George Foulkes calling for a change in the rules so her peerage can be removed. He said: “What she has done has caused so much fury and brought so much disrespect to the House that we need to look at it.
“She has brought the House into disrepute. There is a feeling rich people are becoming greedier and want more money.”
She also mentioned her humble roots during her maiden speech in March 2016, saying: “My Lords, as a wee girl, I grew up in a tenement flat in the east end of Glasgow with no bath or shower and only a cupboard for a bedroom.”
One former newspaper editor said: “The reaction in the media to the Michelle Mone story has been way over top. Liz Truss, for example, cost the nation an awful lot of money before she was ushered out the Downing Street door. That has all fizzled out now, just as this ‘scandal’ will in time. I’m quite in favour of ‘East End girl does extremely well’ stories. The more the merrier, I say. She appears to have followed the official procedure to the letter in this massive procurement cock-up. I say good luck to her. And to them, I say ‘just another bureaucrat, another balls up’.”
Michelle helped save The Union
Delusional or what.