Michelle Mone: Who is Scottish Conservative Baroness Michelle Mone, how did she make her fortune, her net worth and who is her husband?

The news emerged as Labour prepared to force the Government to release records relating to the award of contracts to PPE Medpro.

Reports – denied by Lady Mone, who claimed the accusations had been “unjustly” levelled against her – have suggested the peer may have profited from PPE Medpro winning public contracts worth more than £200 million to supply equipment after she recommended it to ministers in the early days of the pandemic.

Here’s everything you need to know about Michelle Mone, how she came to be a Conservative peer in the House of Lords, her wealth and career to date.

Who is Michelle Mone?

Michelle Georgina Mone OBE is a Scottish business entrepreneur and Conservative peer in the House of Lords.

She was born in Dennistoun, Glasgow on 8 October 1971 and grew up in the east end of the city, leaving school without qualifications at 15-years-old.

She initially pursued a modelling career, before successfully applying for a marketing job with the Labatt brewing company. Within two years she had become the company’s head of marketing in Scotland but was later made redundant – prompting her to set up her own business.

Michelle Mone: Who is Scottish Conservative Baroness Michelle Mone and what's her net worth?

How did Michelle Mone make her money?

In 1996, she founded the lingerie company Ultimo, along with MJM International Ltd, with her former husband Michael Mone.

Mone has previously described her upbringing in Glasgow as giving her “balls of steel”, telling Michael Malone for his 2012 book profiling Scottish entrepreneurs, Carnegie’s Call: "I thought it was normal to go to the local swimming baths to get a wash two or three times a week.”

In 2014, Mone sold her 80per cent stake in Ultimo, which went bust in 2018, and was appointed to the House of Lords as Baroness Mone by David Cameron to lead a review into supporting business start-ups in areas of poverty across the UK.

In 2018, she launched two businesses in the form of mentoring and lifestyle app, Connect 2 Michelle Mone, offering “advice, guidance and inspiration” for those looking to take their lives “to the next level”, and ‘tokenised venture capital fund’ Equi Global Ltd.

In the same year, it was revealed that Baroness Mone’s absence rate from the House of Lords was 88 per cent, with Mone attending just 19 days out of a possible 157 at the House of Lords in total. She has also maintained an active interest in cryptocurrency.

What is Michelle Mone’s net worth?

Michelle Mone’s net worth is not precisely known, but is estimated to be in the region of £20 million or more.

One website listing Baroness or Lady Mone as a motivational speaker cited Mone’s in-person event speaking charges as between £20,000 to £25,000, and between £15,000 and £20,000 for virtual events.

Who is Michelle Mone married to?

Baroness Mone is also married to Scottish businessman and founder of the Knox Group of Companies, Douglas Barrowman – with the Knox Group worth an estimated £3 billion.

Barrowman was also a director of Aston Management Ltd (AML), which provided tax advice and offshore loan schemes to freelance workers including social workers, locum doctors, nurses and engineers – before it ceased trading in 2010.

She was previously married to Michael Mone from 1989–2011, with whom she had three children.