Baroness Michelle Mone to be questioned by police over claims she sent racist message

The businesswoman and Tory peer Michelle Mone is to be questioned by police amid allegations she sent a racist text message.

Mone, 50, has been asked to attend a police station to be interviewed under caution following a complaint made against her by a man of Indian heritage.

Mone is said to have told the man he was “a waste of a man’s white skin”, an allegation first reported in The Guardian last month. 

The man is reported to have made a complaint to Martin Jelley, the Lords commissioner for standards, in August. 

A spokesman for the Metropolitan Police said: “In June, police received an allegation of a racially aggravated malicious communication in relation to information posted on a messaging app.

“Police spoke to the complainant and advised that for the investigation to progress a statement would need to be taken; for this to be admissible in any future court proceedings, this would need to be done in person.

“In October, the complainant gave a statement to police and the investigation continues.

“A 50-year-old woman has been invited to attend for an interview under caution at a future date.”

Mone, who made her fortune through the underwear empire Ultimo, was appointed to the House of Lords by Prime Minister David Cameron in 2015.

A statement released by Mone's lawyers in December said she “very strongly denies that she is a racist”.