Tory peer Michelle Mone is accused of calling man of Indian heritage a ‘waste of a man’s white skin’

Conservative peer Michelle Mone has been accused of calling a man of Indian heritage a ‘waste of a man’s white skin’ in a WhatsApp exchange.

The 50-year-old bra entrepreneur allegedly sent the racist message to a financial consultant in June 2019 after a yacht crash which killed one team member.

In the exchange, seen by The Guardian, Lady Mone – who is known as ‘Baroness Bra’ – reportedly refers to the man’s partner as a ‘nut case bird’ and ‘mental loony’.

Lawyers for the House of Lords member, who lives on the Isle of Man, said she has no ‘detailed memory’ of or ‘access’ to the messages and denied that she is a racist.

The man made an official complaint to the Lords commissioner for standards, Martin Jelley, earlier this year but was told it would not be investigated because the exchange did not take place during the course of Lady Mone’s parliamentary duties.

The complainant claims he and his partner were guests on another yacht, Vision, which crashed into Minx, which is owned by Lady Mone and her husband, Scottish billionaire tech tycoon Douglas Barrowman.

He said the messages were sent in the weeks after the boat crash involving Mr Barrowman’s 88ft-long vessel Minx off the coast of Monaco in May 2019.

The man, who describes himself as brown-skinned, alleges Lady Mone queried whether his partner was mentally affected by the crash in a message on June 13.

He responded that she had been severely traumatised by the event and reportedly told Lady Mone to ‘back the f*** off’.

She then allegedly called his girlfriend a ‘mental loony’ and wrote: ‘Your [sic] a low life, a waste of a mans [sic] white skin so don’t give us your lies. Your [sic] a total disgrace.’

The complainant said Lady Mone later told him he was blocked and to ‘take his mental case to the police station’.

In a statement, Lady Mone’s lawyers said: ‘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.’

They added that Lady Mone did not know the man was of Indian heritage because ‘his appearance is 100 per cent white’.

The lawyers also cast doubt over the motives of the complainant, who once worked for Mr Barrowman. 

Referring to the man’s complaint, a House of Lords spokesman told the newspaper: ‘Where a complaint does not relate to a member’s parliamentary duties, it is not covered by the code or the remit of the commissioner for standards.’ 

Lady 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.

She swore an oath of allegiance to the Queen flanked by the then Welfare minister Lord Freud and Tory peer Baroness Morris of Bolton. 

In the crash in May 2019, a French superyacht skipper was said to have been ‘high on cannabis’ and showing off in front of nine partying Britons when he lost control and crashed the 78-ton vessel into another yacht.

Crewman Jake Feldwhere, 27, was on the foredeck of an 88ft-long Minx preparing to lift the anchor when he was struck and killed off the coast of Île Sainte-Marguerite, near Cannes.

The tragedy happened after the husband of the British owner of the 78ft-long Vision yacht asked the French skipper if it would be possible to attempt a pass of the yacht Minx so his guests could wave goodbye to their friends.

But the skipper lost control of the boat while speeding at 33 knots – more than six times the local speed limit – and ploughed into Minx. 

Mr Feldwhere was killed in the collision on the evening of May 25, 2019, which was the last day of the Cannes film festival.

Guests on both boats had spent the afternoon and evening partying together, initially in a restaurant on shore while their crews remained on the yachts, according to a report by the UK Government’s Marine Accidents Investigation Branch released in January.

The two groups who knew each other agreed to continue their party at sea and the two yachts were rafted together so they could carry on drinking after being ferried back by tenders from the island by around 6.30pm.

The report said that the crew of the Gibraltar-registered Vision started preparing to return to Monaco at around 8.30pm when it was still daylight and the two groups of guests returned to their respective boats.

The husband of the beneficial owner of the boat, described in the report as the charterer, asked his skipper if they could pass Minx as they departed ‘to allow the guests to wave goodbye to their friends on board the anchored yacht’.

The report said that the skipper motored 750m away before turning round and accelerating as he attempted ‘a fast slalom-type manoeuvre close down the port side of the anchored Minx’.

The 78-tonne boat began planing as its speed increased while rapidly approaching the Minx with the propellers of its twin engines creating a ‘rooster tail’ water spray.

But the boat failed to respond due to its high speed when the 42-year-old French skipper tried to steer to port at the last moment and the Vision collided with Minx’s bow, hitting Mr Feldware who was on his first day at sea. He is thought to have died instantly from serious head injuries.