Michelle Mone, Tory peer and author of the Tory Party, was accused of calling an Indian-American man a “waste of his white skin” in a WhatsApp chat.
After a boat crash that resulted in the death of one member of his team, the 50-year-old entrepreneur allegedly sent the racist message through a consultant to financial advisor June 2019.
According to The Guardian, the exchange shows that Baroness Mone refers, in part, to his partner as a “nut case bird” and a “mental loony”.
A lawyer for the House of Lords member claimed she doesn’t have ‘detailed memories’ or ‘access to’ the messages, and that it is not racist.
Martin Jelley, Lords commissioner for standards was notified by the man that he had made an official complaint earlier this year. She said it wouldn’t be investigated as she wasn’t performing her parliamentary duties at the time.
Michelle Mone (pictured on a yacht in an unknown location) 50, allegedly sent the racist message to a financial consultant in 2019 after a yacht crash which killed one team member
Douglas Barrowman is the husband of a lawyer for the House of Lords. They are pictured together.
According to the complainant, he claims that he was a guest on another yacht when it crashed into Baroness Mone’s.
He claimed that messages were sent within weeks of the May 2019 boat accident near Monaco.
He describes himself as brown-skinned. Baroness Mone questioned whether the crash had affected his partner’s mental health in a June 13 message.
He responded that she had been severely traumatised by the event and reportedly told Baroness Mone to ‘back the f*** off’.
Then, he allegedly called his girlfriend “mental loony” and she wrote: “Your [sic]A low-life, it is a loss of mans. [sic]White skin is not a lie, so we won’t believe you. Your [sic] a total disgrace.’
According to the complainant, Baroness Mone told him later that he had been blocked by her and that he should ‘take his mental matter to the police station.
Michelle Mone, pictured in 2017, sold Ultimo lingerie business in 2014. She was inducted as a Life Peer by David Cameron at the House of Lords.
Baroness Mone’s legal team stated that they were not ready to comment on these messages until the authenticity of their origin has been verified. Baroness Mone however strongly denies being racist, sexist, or having a lack respect for mental-health patients.
They added that Baroness Mone did not know the man was of Indian heritage because ‘his appearance is 100 per cent white’.
Also, lawyers questioned the motivations of the complainant who was once employed by Mr Barrowman.
The House of Lords spoke out in support of the complainant, saying that if the complaint isn’t related to a member of Parliament’s parliamentary duties, the code and the remit of standards commissioners will not cover it.
Baroness Mone, who sold her lingerie company Ultimo in 2014, was sworn in as a life peer by then Prime Minister David Cameron in the House of Lords in 2015.
With the help of Lord Freud, the Welfare minister at the time and Baroness Morris from Bolton, a Tory peer, she took an oath to allegiance.