Conservative peer Michelle Mone denies sending racist and abusive message

Conservative peer Michelle Mone has denied calling a man of Indian heritage a 'waste of a man's white skin' in a WhatsApp exchange.

The Conservative peer Michelle Mone had been accused of sending racist and abuse messages, but has denied the claims.

The Guardian, who have seen the official complaint made against Baroness Mone, reports that she has been accused of sending a racist message to a man of Indian heritage who she allegedly called “a waste of a man’s white skin”.

The alleged messages were part of a series of WhatsApp conversations sent in June 2019. Screenshots of the message are believed to have been part of a complaint sent to the House of Lords commissioner for standards.

Mone is alleged to have called man of Indian heritage ‘a waste of a man’s white skin’ in WhatsApp exchange

The messages were sent to a financial consultant in June 2019 after a yacht crash which killed one team member, with Baroness Mone also referring to the man's partner as a 'nut case bird' and 'mental loony'.

It is understood that no investigation will be carried out as the messages were not sent in the course of parliamentary duties.

A representative for Baroness Mone told The Guardian in an initial statement: “Baroness Mone is 100% not a racist. Baroness Mone and her husband have built over 15 schools in Africa in the past three years.”

A further statement added that Mone had “no access” to the messages and no “detailed memory of them”.

It read: “She is not prepared to comment on the messages unless and until their authenticity has been confirmed but Baroness Mone, in any event, very strongly denies that she is a racist, a sexist or that she has a lack of respect for those persons genuinely suffering with mental health difficulties.”

The statement added it was “as illogical as it is inconceivable that she could or 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”.

Mone was appointed to the House of Lords in 2015 after selling an 80% stake in her Ultimo lingerie company.