Michelle Mone

Michelle Georgina Mone, Baroness Mone, OBE (née Allan; born 8 October 1971 in Glasgow, Scotland) is a British entrepreneur and parliamentarian.

In 1996 she and her then-husband Michael Mone founded MJM International Ltd and the lingerie company Ultimo, which she sold in full in 2014.

Born on 8 October 1971, Michelle Allan grew up in Glasgow's East End. Mone is an only child after losing her younger brother to spina bifida. After leaving school aged 15 with no qualifications, she went on to marry Michael Mone.

Mone obtained a marketing job with the Labatt brewing company and, within two years, had risen to become its head of marketing in Scotland. She was made redundant by the company, prompting her to set up her own business and has since admitted that she exaggerated qualifications on her CV to obtain the job.

While wearing a very uncomfortable cleavage-enhancing brassière at a dinner dance, Mone realised she could improve the design. Her stated aims were to create a brassière that was both more comfortable and better looking, whilst enhancing more cleavage. 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.

She was awarded an OBE for her outstanding contribution to business in 2010 by Queen Elizabeth II.

On 27 August 2015, Downing Street announced her elevation to the peerage, and she was introduced in the House of Lords on 15 October by fellow Conservative peers Lord Freud and Baroness Morris of Bolton.

MJM International

In November 1996 she founded MJM International with her then-husband Michael. In August 1999, Mone launched Ultimo at Selfridges department store in London. In 2015, the firm announcedpre-tax profits of £39m.

Following the breakdown of her relationship with her husband, Mone left the company briefly in 2013. The business assets were transferred to its parent firm, Ultimo Brands International Ltd, in a partnership with Sri Lankan-based MAS Holdings. MJM International was then wound up. In November 2014, Mone sold down her stake in Ultimo Brands International to 20% to partner MAS Holdings and established fake-tan company UTan & Tone.

In August 2015, Mone resigned her directorships of both MJM International Ltd and Ultimo Brands International Ltd citing that she had "Hung up her bra and sold 80% of Ultimo". Mone described her 17 years of building up the Ultimo brand as a "roller coaster ride" and that she was looking forward to a "new chapter".

Mone is one of the highest-paid business speakers in the UK seeking up to £25,000 per speech within the UK. She speaks around the globe with Success Resources, the speaking company who tour with Tony Robbins.

Politics

Mone, previously a long-standing Labour Party supporter like her family, withdrew her support in 2009 pledging to leave the UK werethe Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, to increase the top income tax rate to 50%; she accused Brown and his government of mismanaging Britain's finances during the global economic crisis. In January 2012, she gave an interview to The Sunday Times stating her intention to move to England were Scotland to become independent following the 2014 referendum on the issue.

On 10 August 2015, Downing Street 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, Iain Duncan Smith MP.

On 27 August 2015, then Prime Minister, David Cameron, announced a list of new creations of life peers, including Mone. Her inclusion drew criticism from other business leaders; however, she was commended on the release of the review by others such as the head of commercial banking for Europe at HSBC, Business secretary, and Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills Sajid Javid, Ruth Lowbridge MBE, Executive Chair of the SFEDI Group and others. Some Conservatives questioned her suitability for the House of Lords. Senior Scottish Conservatives also criticised Cameron's action, describing Mone as "a public relations creation, a personal brand rather than a serious businesswoman".

She has been accused of sending, in June 2019, a racist message to a man of Indian heritage who alleged in an official complaint that she told him he was "a waste of a man's white skin". She was also accused of abuse by mocking people with mental health issues describing his wife as a "mental loony" and "nut case bird".A representative of Mone commented "Baroness Mone is 100% not a racist. Baroness Mone and her husband have built over 15 schools in Africa in the past three years." Her lawyers later provided another statement in which they said Mone had “no access” to the messages and no “detailed memory of them”. The matter was referred to the House of Lords Commissioner for Standards as part of a complaint alleging that Mone sent racist and abusive messages. The commissioner, Martin Jelley QPM, responded that he was unable to investigate Mone because the messages were not sent in the course of her parliamentary duties.

At 18 years old, Michelle Allan became pregnant with her first child. She then converted to Roman Catholicism and married Michael Mone, an anaesthetist's son from a Catholic family. After 20 years and, after having had three children, on 27 December 2011, lawyers announced the couple's formal separation.

On 26 December 2018 Mone announced her engagement to businessman Douglas Barrowman. They were married on 29 November 2020.

Appointments

In 2001 Prince Charles invited Mone to join the board of directors of The Princes Scottish Youth Business Trust.

On 21 November 2002, Paisley University awarded her an honorary doctorate.

Mone was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for "services to the lingerie industry" in the 2010 New Year Honours. After consultation with the College of Arms, on 30 September 2015, she was created a life peer as "Baroness Mone, of Mayfair in the City of Westminster".

Honours

Register of interests

The House of Lords Register of Interests includes the following for Mone:

• Trustee of The Barrowman Foundation (Charity)
• Non-executive Director, VE Global Limited (tech company)
• Director, MMI Global Limited (49% shareholder) (private limited company) and MGM media, both managing Mone's brand
• Director, Michelle Mone Interiors Limited
• Non-executive Director, Dellal Limited (venture capital)
• Shareholder and Non-executive Director, WeShop (formerly Social Superstore Limited)