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Michelle Georgina Mone, Baroness Mone, (''née'' Allan; born October 1971) is a British businesswoman and Conservative
life peer In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the peerage whose titles cannot be inherited, in contrast to hereditary peers. In modern times, life peerages, always created at the rank of baron, are created under the Life Peerages ...
. She has set up several businesses, including MJM International Ltd in 1996 and the lingerie company Ultimo along with her then husband Michael Mone. Other ventures include naturopathic 'weight-loss' pills, and a
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product via Ultimo Beauty. Mone became a Conservative life peer in 2015. From 2020 to 2022, in a series of investigative pieces, '' The Guardian'' reported that Mone and her children had secretly received £29 million of profits to an offshore trust from government PPE contracts, which she had lobbied for during the COVID-19 pandemic. The
House of Lords Commissioner for Standards There are currently two House of Lords Commissioners for Standards, officers of the United Kingdom House of Lords. When the post was created in 2010 there was a single commissioner who was "responsible for the independent and impartial investigat ...
and National Crime Agency launched investigations into Mone's links to these contracts in January 2022. Mone announced in December 2022 that she was taking a leave of absence from the House of Lords "to clear her name" amid the allegations.


Early life

Born in October 1971, Michelle Allan grew up in Glasgow's East End. She recounted how she had lived with her family in a one-bedroomed house with no bath or shower until she was 10 years old. She also told of how her younger brother, who had spina bifida, died at the age of eight, when she was 10 years old, and that her father, who was suffering from cancer, lost the use of his legs when she was 15. She left school aged 15, with no qualifications, to pursue a modelling career. At 17 she met her future husband, Michael Mone, and by 18 years old, she was pregnant with her first child, Rebecca. She then converted from Protestantism to Catholicism and married Michael, an anaesthetist's son from a Catholic family.


Business career

Mone obtained a marketing job with the
Labatt Labatt Brewing Company Limited (french: La Brasserie Labatt Limitée) is a Belgian-owned brewery headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 1847, Labatt is the largest brewer in Canada. In 1995, it was purchased by Belgian brewer Int ...
brewing company and, within two years, had risen to become its head of marketing in Scotland. She has since said that she invented qualifications to help get the job there. She was then made redundant by the company, prompting her, at the age of 23, to set up her own business using the redundancy compensation she received from Labatt.


MJM International

In November 1996 she founded MJM International with her then-husband Michael. In August 1999, Mone launched the Ultimo lingerie brand at Selfridges department store in London. Mone came up with the idea for the Ultimo bra, the brand's first product, when she was wearing an uncomfortable cleavage-enhancing bra one day and believed she could create a more comfortable cleavage-enhancing bra. Mone had read about a new silicone product while on holiday in Florida and approached the company to obtain its European licence to produce bras. Mone has claimed that an Ultimo bra was worn by Julia Roberts in the
Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood, ...
movie, '' Erin Brockovich'', but this was denied by the film's creators. Ultimo went on to include other products, such as
backless dress A backless dress is a style of women’s clothing designed to expose the wearer's human back, back. The back may be either partially exposed with a low cut or fully exposed with the use of strings. A backless dress is most commonly worn on formal ...
es and shapewear, which led to MJM International's growth. Mone left MJM International briefly in 2013 following the breakdown of her relationship with her then husband. The business assets were transferred to its parent firm, Ultimo Brands International Ltd, in a partnership with MAS Holdings. MJM International was then dissolved. In November 2014, Mone sold down her stake in Ultimo Brands International to 20% to partner MAS Holdings. In 2014, a former operations director for MJM won a claim for unfair dismissal from her company after discovering that Mone had authorised electronic bugging of his office. Mone threatened to sue her critics when it was revealed her company MJM International had paid a substantial sum of money into a controversial tax avoidance scheme, criticised by
Chancellor Chancellor ( la, cancellarius) is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the or lattice work screens of a basilica or law cou ...
George Osborne as "morally repugnant". Following a test case brought by HMRC against
Rangers Football Club Rangers Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the Govan district of Glasgow which plays in the Scottish Premiership. Although not its official name, it is often referred to as Glasgow Rangers outside Scotland. The fou ...
, the scheme utilising an
employee benefit trust An employee trust is a trust for the benefit of employees. The employees that an employee trust benefits are usually defined by reference to employment by a particular company (or group of companies).  In addition to employees, the beneficiaries m ...
(the type of tax avoidance scheme used by MJM International) was exposed as ineffective in November 2015. Mone said she had "not done anything wrong" in relation to tax avoidance and that her ex-husband had "dealt with all the finance". In August 2015, Mone resigned her directorships of both MJM and Ultimo, saying she had sold 80% of the latter.


TrimSecrets and weight loss

TrimSecrets were weight loss pills formulated by the “naturopath” Jan de Vries. The product also used diet and exercise advice. In 2006 MJM formed a joint venture with de Vries, taking a 50% share in the product. Mone claimed that exercise and reduced calorific intake had no effect on her weight and credited TrimSecrets pills for her weight loss. Mone falsely claimed the efficacy of the product had been proven in clinical trials. However, when questioned further, she said that approximately 60 users had completed a questionnaire but was unable to produce the results. In October 2013, Jan de Vries sold his interest in the company with Mone having 60% of the business and a silent business partner the remaining 40%. In August 2015 it was reported that the company had made a loss in each of the last four years for which accounts were available. In November 2015, Mone was criticised for using her "Baroness Mone"-styled Twitter account to promote TrimSecrets pills, although a spokesman for Mone said she had disposed of her ownership of the firm before her tweet. A spokesman for the British Dietetic Association said "there is no scientific basis or rationale for these products, they are making claims which are unfounded and feeding into public confusion around nutrition and pseudo-science." On the ITV programme ''
Loose Women ''Loose Women'' (previously known as ''Live Talk'' from 2000 to 2001) is a British talk show that broadcasts on ITV1 weekdays from 12:30 pm to 1:30 pm. The show focuses on a panel of four female presenters who interview celebrities, talk about ...
'' in 2020, Mone said she lost weight during the COVID-19 lockdown by exercising three times a day. She stated: "When I was overweight and in a very uncomfortable horrible marriage, my way of coping with that was to continuously eat."


Ultimo Beauty/Ubeauty Global

In 2012 Mone's company, Ultimo Beauty, launched a
fake tan Sunless tanning, also known as UV filled tanning, self tanning, spray tanning (when applied topically), or fake tanning, refers to the effect of a suntan without exposure to the Sun. Sunless tanning involves the use of oral agents (carotenids) ...
product. In 2014 when announcing that she had sold most of her stake in Ultimo, she confirmed she had taken 100% control of Ubeauty Global, consisting of the assets of Ultimo Beauty. In 2016, after she was made a peer, Mone changed the company formation so that it no longer had to publish public trading accounts. In February 2017 accounts for the company were published, covering the time from 2014 to 2016 and it was revealed the company had assets of £23,000. In March 2017, Mone announced that she had sold the company.


Aston Plaza development

In 2017, Mone and her partner Doug Barrowman launched a £250 million residential development in Dubai which they claimed was to be the "first-ever development to be priced in
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". In April 2019, '' The Sunday Times'' reported that the development was "on hold" with the construction incomplete, while a spokesman for Mone said that it was going "extremely well" and was in the process of being redesigned.


Equi cryptocurrency

In 2018, Mone and her partner Doug Barrowman launched a
cryptocurrency A cryptocurrency, crypto-currency, or crypto is a digital currency designed to work as a medium of exchange through a computer network that is not reliant on any central authority, such as a government or bank, to uphold or maintain it. It i ...
called Equi through a company called Equi Capital. It aimed to raise $80m which would be invested in startup companies. Mone described herself as "one of the biggest experts in Cryptocurrency and Blockchain" and promoted the project as the "bitcoin of Britain". The company recruited 1,000 people to promote the cryptocurrency through social media, but they only raised £1,600. According to Barrowman, £5.4 million of tokens were sold in a "pre-sale offering" but the public sale beginning in March 2018 raised only £540,000. By August 2018, ''The Sunday Times'' reported that the project had "flopped" and all investors had been refunded. ''The Financial Times'' reported that it had "ended in a fiasco that exposes the total absence of oversight in the
ICO is an action-adventure game developed by Japan Studio and Team Ico, and published by Sony Computer Entertainment, released for the PlayStation 2 video game console in 2001 and 2002 in various regions. It was designed and directed by Fumito U ...
market".


Political career

Mone says she previously supported the Labour Party, as did her family, but withdrew her support in 2009 after the prime minister, Gordon Brown, increased the top income tax rate to 50%, also indicating that she would leave the UK. She further stated that Brown and his government mismanaged the country's finances during the
global economic crisis Global economic crisis may refer to: *Economic events of the 21st Century: **Financial crisis of 2007–2008 ** Great Recession **The 2020 stock market crash *A global recession *Earlier global economic events, such as: **The Great Depression, a glo ...
. During the London riots in August 2011, Mone called for the army to be brought in and tweeted "People who riot, steal, cover face deserve zero human rights". In January 2012, she gave an interview to '' The Sunday Times'' stating her intention to move herself and her business to England were Scotland to become independent following the 2014 referendum on the issue. However, despite Scotland voting No in the referendum, Mone confirmed a few months later that she was leaving Scotland. On 10 August 2015, the government announced that Mone would lead a two-part review into entrepreneurship and small businesses, particularly focusing upon setting up small businesses in deprived areas, under the
Work and Pensions Secretary The secretary of state for work and pensions, also referred to as the work and pensions secretary, is a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, with overall responsibility for the business of the Department for Work and P ...
, Iain Duncan Smith. On 27 August 2015, the prime minister,
David Cameron David William Donald Cameron (born 9 October 1966) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2016 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2005 to 2016. He previously served as Leader o ...
, announced a list of new creations of
life peer In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the peerage whose titles cannot be inherited, in contrast to hereditary peers. In modern times, life peerages, always created at the rank of baron, are created under the Life Peerages ...
s, including Mone. Her inclusion drew criticism from other business leaders. Some Conservatives questioned her suitability for the House of Lords. '' The Scotsman'' reported that senior Scottish Conservatives also criticised Cameron's action, with an unnamed Conservative describing Mone as "a public relations creation, a personal brand rather than a serious businesswoman". Mone was criticised on Twitter when her first vote in the House of Lords was to vote against a motion to delay government cuts to tax credits of around £1,300 a year for three million low-income families. Mone responded to the controversy by tweeting that people should "work hard" and not "look for excuses" for their own poverty. In October 2016 she said that she was wrong to support the cuts and she regretted the way she voted.


Attendance in House of Lords

In her maiden speech in the House of Lords, Mone stated: "I look forward to playing a full and active role in your lordships’ house". ''The Times'' reported in 2018 that in the previous year, Mone had only attended the House of Lords on 12 % of the days in which it was sitting, missing important debates including on the Brexit bill. Her low attendance led SNP MSP Rona Mackay to describe her as the "Layabout Lady of Mayfair" and businessman Douglas Anderson, who had criticised her original appointment, called for her to resign. By early 2022, Mone had made only five speeches in the House of Lords and asked 22 written questions. As of December 2022, she had not spoken in a debate since March 2020 and had last voted in April 2022.


PPE Medpro controversy

In October 2020 it was revealed that PPE Medpro, a company led by Anthony Page, a business associate of Mone and her husband Doug Barrowman, had been awarded a contract for £122 million to supply personal protective equipment (PPE) to the NHS during the COVID-19 pandemic. Page resigned as secretary for MGM Media, the company that manages and receives payment for Mone's branding and media engagements and on the same day he formed Medpro. In October 2020, a spokeswoman for Mone stated she "has no role or involvement in PPE Medpro", adding: "Mr Barrowman is also not involved in the company PPE Medpro and is not a Director or Shareholder." It later emerged that a second contract for £80 million was awarded to Medpro even earlier when the company was just 4 weeks old. In November 2021, a Freedom of Information request revealed that Mone personally recommended the company to the government through its VIP fast-track lane for firms with political connections and that the company was awarded £200 million in government contracts. This high-priority process was set up in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic in order to bypass the normal competitive tender process for procurement that was considered urgent. It further emerged in January 2022 that Mone recommended Medpro for a government contract five days before the company had been formed. At the time, Mone's lawyers stated that she "was not connected to PPE Medpro in any capacity" but documents leaked to '' The Guardian'' revealed that a director of the company was a long term employee of Mone's husband's company. WhatsApp messages seen by ''The Guardian'' appeared to show Mone discussing the size of garments that formed part of a contract. Lawyers for Mone and her husband denied the allegations. Following a complaint by the
Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...
peer George Foulkes, the
House of Lords commissioner for standards There are currently two House of Lords Commissioners for Standards, officers of the United Kingdom House of Lords. When the post was created in 2010 there was a single commissioner who was "responsible for the independent and impartial investigat ...
launched an investigation into the relationship between Mone and Medpro in January 2022. On 27 April 2022, Mone's homes in London and on the Isle of Man and associated business addresses were raided by the police, who have launched an investigation into potential fraud. The National Crime Agency is pursuing a tandem investigation into PPE Medpro. In November 2022, ''The Guardian'' reported that an Isle of Man trust, of which Mone and her adult children are beneficaries, had received £29 million originating from PPE Medpro via a series of offshore transactions involving Barrowman. Her lawyer had previously said she did not declare PPE Medpro in the House of Lords register of financial interests as "she did not benefit financially and was not connected to PPE Medpro in any capacity." Mone also lobbied for LFI Diagnostics, a company established as a secret entity of her husband Barrowman's family office, Knox family office. A unnamed source told ''The Guardian'' that Mone was "in a class of her own in terms of the sheer aggression of her advocacy" for LFI Diagnostics. On 6 December 2022, Mone's spokesperson said she was taking a leave of absence from the House of Lords with immediate effect "in order to clear her name of the allegations that have been unjustly levelled against her." On 19 December 2022 it emerged that the government would sue PPE Medpro for £122m plus costs. The government said that medical gowns which were supplied by the company "did not comply with the specification in the contract" and could not be used in the NHS. PPE Medpro said it would "rigorously" defend the claim.


Awards and recognition

On 21 November 2002,
Paisley University , mottoeng = Learning is success , established = 1897 (as Paisley College of Technology) 1992 (granted university status) 2007 (renamed to UWS) , former_names = Paisley College of Technology, Paisley Co ...
awarded her an honorary doctorate. Mone was appointed
Officer of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...
(OBE) for her "services to the lingerie industry" in the
2010 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 2010 were announced on 31 December 2009 in the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Cook Islands, Barbados, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Saint Lucia, Belize, Antigua and Barbuda, Saint Christopher and NevisSaint Christ ...
. After consultation with the College of Arms, on 30 September 2015, she was created a
life peer In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the peerage whose titles cannot be inherited, in contrast to hereditary peers. In modern times, life peerages, always created at the rank of baron, are created under the Life Peerages ...
as Baroness Mone, of Mayfair in the City of Westminster. She was introduced in the House of Lords on 15 October by fellow Conservative
peers Peers may refer to: People * Donald Peers * Edgar Allison Peers, English academician * Gavin Peers * John Peers, Australian tennis player * Kerry Peers * Mark Peers * Michael Peers * Steve Peers * Teddy Peers (1886–1935), Welsh international ...
Lord Freud and
Baroness Morris of Bolton Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than a lord or knig ...
. She was recognised as one of the BBC's 100 women of 2017.


Personal life

Mone has appeared on a number of TV programmes, including ''
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'' and '' 71 Degrees North''. On 26 December 2018 Mone announced her engagement to Scottish businessman
Douglas Barrowman Douglas Alan Barrowman (born March 1965) is a Scottish businessman. He founded the Knox Group of Companies and has invested in Ve Interactive, Aston Ventures, and Equi Capital. He is married to Michelle Mone. In 2022, in a series of investigat ...
. They were married on 29 November 2020. In December 2021, a wealth manager of Indian heritage accused Mone of sending
racist Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one race over another. It may also mean prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism ...
text messages to him after the two were involved in a 2019 yachting incident in Monaco, which resulted in the death of a person. He said that Mone called him "a waste of a man's white skin" via text. A spokesperson for Mone said she was not a racist and "Baroness Mone and her husband have built over 15 schools in Africa in the past three years"; this was followed by a message from her lawyers, who said that Mone could not access her messages and had no "detailed memory of them". Mone's spokesperson said it was "illogical she would have made such a comment or made it with the slightest racist intent as, at the time, she had no knowledge that the complainant was anything other than white British, as his appearance is 100% white, with a cut-glass English accent." The allegations of racism were referred to the
House of Lords Commissioner for Standards There are currently two House of Lords Commissioners for Standards, officers of the United Kingdom House of Lords. When the post was created in 2010 there was a single commissioner who was "responsible for the independent and impartial investigat ...
, but commissioners did not investigate the matter as Mone's comments were said in a personal capacity and not in her capacity as a member of the House of Lords. In January 2022, the
Metropolitan Police The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), formerly and still commonly known as the Metropolitan Police (and informally as the Met Police, the Met, Scotland Yard, or the Yard), is the territorial police force responsible for law enforcement and ...
announced they were investigating the incident after receipt of an allegation of a racially aggravated malicious communication.


References


External links


Official Michelle Mone websitewww.parliament.uk
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mone, Michelle 1971 births Living people Scottish fashion designers Officers of the Order of the British Empire Businesspeople from Glasgow People from Thorntonhall Scottish Roman Catholics Scottish businesspeople in fashion Conservative Party (UK) life peers Life peeresses created by Elizabeth II British monarchists 21st-century Scottish businesspeople BBC 100 Women Converts to Roman Catholicism from Protestantism Labour Party (UK) people Politicians from Glasgow Scottish Conservative Party politicians British women fashion designers 21st-century British women politicians