Reality TV star Michelle Mone has taken her seat in the House of Lords.
Wearing the usual red robe, Baroness Mone of Mayfair was flanked by supporters Work and Pensions minister Lord Freud and Tory peer Baroness Morris of Bolton for the short introduction ceremony.
She swore the oath of allegiance to the Queen before a crowded chamber and packed public gallery ahead of question time in the Lords.
Baroness Mone and her husband Michael Mone founded a small but high-profile bra and underwear business n 1996 but announced she had left the firm in August after another year of losses in 2014.
Despite her business failures, the 44-year-old, who grew up in the east end of Glasgow, has been appointed by the Prime Minister as a business tsar with special responsibility for start-ups and will sit on the Conservative benches.
Baroness Mone is one of 45 new peers announced by David Cameron in August. Over half the new intake are Conservatives prompting accusations of "cronyism" from critics of the appointment process.
The growth in the size of the Lords to over 800 members has sparked fresh demands for reform of the upper House.
Earlier Lord Gilbert of Panteg, deputy chairman of the Conservative party and director of campaigning in the 2015 general election, also took his seat in the Lords.
He was flanked by Lord Taylor of Holbeach and Lord Cooper of Windrush as he swore the oath of allegiance to the Queen.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel