Michelle Mone: leading entrepreneur or lucky baroness?

The woman at the heart of the PPE scandal is widely hailed as a successful businessperson. But the fate of her high-profile lingerie company raises questions

• Cameron broke convention when he made Michelle Mone a peer, says Tory MP

Throughout the stunning interviews the Conservative peer Michelle Mone gave last month, finally admitting she had lied for years when denying her involvement in lucrative PPE deals, she still maintained a claim central to her remarkable rise. Hands neatly placed in her lap, she was, she told the BBC's Laura Kuenssberg, a very successful individual businesswoman".

Mone and her husband, the Isle of Man-based businessman Doug Barrowman, are facing a long-running National Crime Agency investigation into allegations of bribery and fraud in their securing of 200m in government contracts for a company, PPE Medpro. Both now admit involvement in the company, but deny any wrongdoing.