Who is Michelle Mone?published at 10:26 BST
10:26 BST
Image source, PA Media
Born in her own words “into nothing”, Michelle Mone was raised
in the Dennistoun area of Glasgow. She left school at 15 with no qualifications
but a determination “to make something of myself”.
In 1999, she talked her way into Selfridges in London,
and won a deal to sell her gel-filled Ultimo bra. She and first husband Michael re-mortgaged their house and
went £70,000 into debt to develop the product.
After more than 20 years together, the Mones divorced in 2011. Michelle bought Michael out of the business and became the
face and body of the brand, modelling her own lingerie.
She had been a Labour supporter but moved to the
Conservatives in 2010. In 2015, Prime Minister David Cameron made her an “entrepreneurship tsar” – within weeks it was announced
she was to become a Conservative peer, as Baroness Mone of Mayfair.
In 2016, Mone announced she was in a new relationship with
Doug Barrowman, a billionaire businessman. They settled in the Isle of Man, and
worked together in the crypto-currency sector.
She lost the Conservative whip after her links to PPE Medpro
emerged and has taken a leave of absence from the House of Lords.
READ MORE: A self-created fairy story: The rise and fall of Michelle Mone