‘Barely there’ Baroness Bra hits back at Lords critics

LINGERIE tycoon Michelle Mone, aka Baroness Bra, felt compelled to defend her dismal attendance at the House of Lords last year amid calls to resign, with Scots MSP Rona Mackay labelling her ‘ the ultimate poster girl for the abolition of the Lords’.

Now leading human rights lawyer Helena Kennedy QC, who sits in the upper house as Baroness Kennedy of The Shaws, has waded into the debate about her fellow Glaswegian, who has an 88 per cent ‘absence rate’ in Parliament’s second chamber. ‘I never see her, I don’t really know her. I introduced myself to her when she first came and she was chatty, but I mean . . . well, I assume

it’s her business that keeps her there. I have no idea,’ Kennedy tells me. ‘Governments do that kind of thing, bringing in people for all kinds of weird reasons.’

The 68-year-old mother of three, who co-founded Doughty Street Chambers where Hollywood star George Clooney’s wife, Amal, also works, has been an active and outspoken Labour peer since entering the Lords after the general election in 1997.

Quick to rebuff criticism, Ultimo lingerie founder Michelle, 47, who was ennobled by David Cameron in 2015, hits back, telling me: ‘Quite frankly, whether one person has seen me in the House of Lords is irrelevant — it’s a big place.

‘I am always there for both the two-line and three-line whips. I have never met Baroness Kennedy and I’m happy with my voting record, I’m a full-time businesswoman and mum of three.’

Helena, who was speaking at the book launch party for Happy Old Me by Hunter Davies at the Groucho Club, warns that peers should not become complacent in their roles.

‘While you’re still able to make a contribution, that’s great, and sometimes people are bringing real expertise and wisdom,’ she adds.

‘But I don’t think people should think that they should be there for ever, and you do sometimes see people coming in and not doing much.’

Hard to believe.

Director tim Burton admits he didn’t audition thandie Newton’s 14-year-old daughter, Nico Parker, before casting her in his Dumbo remake. ‘She’s amazing. When you meet her, you know she’s a really special, powerful person,’ he tells me. ‘i didn’t even have to see her act or anything. She’s one of those few people who has that from the beginning.’

Lords absence debate: Peers Kennedy (left) and Mone