The Lord Paul | |
---|---|
Born | Swraj Paul 18 February 1931 |
Nationality | British |
Education | Doaba College Jalandhar, Punjab; Forman Christian College, Lahore; Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
Occupation | Businessman |
Political party | Independent |
Children | 4, including Angad Paul (deceased) |
Swraj Paul, Baron Paul, PC (born 18 February 1931) is an Indian-born British business magnate and philanthropist. In 1996 he was appointed a life peer by Conservative Prime Minister John Major, [1] and sits in the House of Lords as a non-affiliated peer with the title Baron Paul, of Marylebone, in the City of Westminster. [2] In December 2008 he was appointed deputy speaker of the Lords; in October 2009 he was appointed to the Privy Council. [3]
According to his official biography, Swraj Paul was born in Jullundur, Punjab Province in 1931, in what was then British India. His father Payare Lal ran a small foundry, making steel buckets and farming equipment. His mother's name was Mongwati. The site of his childhood home is now Apeejay School. [4]
Swraj Paul completed his high school education at Labbu Ram Doaba School. Paul was educated at Forman Christian College in Lahore, and Doaba College in Jalandhar. He went to the United States to study mechanical engineering, obtaining BSc, MSc and MechE degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. [5]
After leaving MIT, he returned to India to work for the family business, Apeejay Group, which was founded by his father, and was, at the time, managed by his two older brothers, Satya Paul and Jit Paul.
In 1966 he relocated to the United Kingdom to get medical treatment for his young daughter, who had leukaemia. [6] He spent a year grieving her death, after which he founded Natural Gas Tubes. [5] Starting with one steel unit, he went on to acquire more. This led to his founding the Caparo Group in 1968, which became one of the UK's largest steel conversion and distribution businesses, manufacturing an extensive range of structural steels, precision tube, spirally welded tube, special bar qualities, industrial wires, cold rolled strip and spring steel strip. Lord Paul stepped down from the management of the Caparo Group in 1996. [7]
Up until Autumn 2015, Caparo employed over 10,000 people across North America, Europe, India and, the Middle East. In October 2015, 16 of the 20 limited companies that formed most of Caparo Group UK collapsed into administration, [8] and on 8 November his son Angad Paul, the Group's CEO, died in an apparent suicide from his eighth-floor penthouse flat. [9]
Lord Paul has held many public positions. In 2006, as part of his parliamentary work, he made a declaration of interest; [10] he was involved with more than a dozen organisations outside his family business and foundation. This foundation, named in memory of his daughter, [11] channels profits from Caparo India into charitable endeavours. [12] For example, Paul is an honorary patron of the Zoological Society of London and has funded major projects at the Regent's Park site, including the Ambika Paul children's zoo. [13]
In 2020 $5 million was donated to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for "The Swraj Paul Theatre" at the Kresge Auditorium.
The Foundation has established the Ambika Paul School of Technology in Jalandhar, India.
Lord Paul held the Pro-Chancellorship of Thames Valley University in 1997, and Chancellorship in 1998.
He has been the Chancellor of the University of Wolverhampton since 1998. [14] In 2010 the student union centre was renamed "The Ambika Paul Student Union Centre", following his donation towards its refurbishment. [15] In 2015 he gave, through his family foundation, £1 million, the largest single donation in the university's history. [16]
Lord Paul was Chancellor of University of Westminster, [10] [17] from 2006 to 2014; his foundation donated £300,000. [18] [ full citation needed ] to establish the Ambika P3 event and exhibition space.
He sat on MIT's Mechanical Engineering Visiting Committee between 1998 and 2001, when he established the Ambika Paul Mezzanine and Study Space, and the Swraj Paul Scholarship fund for undergraduate and graduate students.
Lord Paul is a member of the President's Cabinet for Chapman University in Orange, California. [19]
Lord Paul has taken an interest in international relations. He was appointed by the government to act as an ambassador for British business from 1998–2010. [20] He was a member of the Foreign Policy Centre Advisory Council. [21] He contested for the chairmanship of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, with an agenda to reduce the gap between the West and the East.[ citation needed ] Lord Paul was Co-Chairman of the Indo-British Roundtable from 2000 to 2005. [22] [23] He was a member of Panel 2000, an appointment by the Prime Minister to re-brand Britain. [24]
Lord Paul has donated £500,000 to the Labour Party, [25] being the largest donor to Gordon Brown's leadership campaign [5] and offering in 2007 to give "as much as [he] can afford" in the case of an early election. [26] He is also close to the former UK Prime Minister's wife, Sarah Brown, [17] [27] for whom he shows paternal concern Lord Paul was chairman and trustee of Theirworld and chairman Theirworld Projects Ltd (formerly PiggyBankKids) from 2002 to 2015; the charity was founded by Sarah Brown. [28]
He was the first person of Indian origin to hold the post of deputy speaker of the House of Lords, [29] one of twelve people in that post. [30] He was sworn of the Privy Council on 15 October 2009. [31] [32]
Lord Paul was involved with the London Olympics from its inception; he was a member of the board responsible for the 2005 submission of the bid for the 2012 Summer Olympics. He travelled to Singapore as part of the bidding team that successfully persuaded the International Olympic Committee to award the games to London for 2012. [33] He chaired the Olympic Delivery Committee, part of the London Development Agency, with the job of obtaining the land on which to build the new venues, and delivering the land on time and on budget. (See Legacy of the 2012 Summer Olympics.)[ citation needed ]
Lord Paul has received various awards and honours including 15 honorary degrees from universities in the UK, US, India, Russia and Switzerland. In 1983 he was awarded the Padma Bhushan, by Indira Gandhi, the Prime Minister of India, [34] and the Bharat Gaurav award by the Indian Merchants' Chamber. Freedom of the City of London, 1998; Asian Business Awards, Lifetime Achievement Award, 2008; Donald C. Burnham Manufacturing Management Award, Society of Manufacturing Engineers, USA, 1995; First Asian of the Year Award, Asian Who's Who, 1987; Asian Woman Magazine Lifetime Achievement Award, 2008. [6] PowerBrands Hall of Fame nominated him Global Indian of the Year, 2011.[ citation needed ] Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Corporate Leadership Award, 1989.[ citation needed ]
He was awarded "International Indian of Decade" for his outstanding achievements in the fields of industry, education and philanthropy at the 20th anniversary of the publication of India Link International, a monthly magazine on 15 November 2013. [35]
In 2014, Lord Paul was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Black Country Asian Business Association for his "outstanding achievements in the fields of industry, education and philanthropy". [36] In 2014, he received a further Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of his work in promoting India-UK educational ties from the Global Skill Tree consortium,an India Based think tank, which hopes to promote India as a global hub of international education through its "Great Place to Study – India" initiative. [37]
In July 2014, Lord Paul was given the "International Icon of the Decade Award" by the World Consulting Research Corporation at its Global Indian Excellence Summit in London, in recognition of "his outstanding achievements in the fields of manufacturing, education and philanthropy". [38]
In April 2018, Lord Paul received two awards during a trip to India: the IOD Golden Peacock Award For Lifetime Achievement in Business Leadership and the Global Punjabi Society Lifetime Achievement Award. [39]
In May 2018, Lord Paul was given the Int+ WCRC International Iconic Leader Award for Lifetime Achievement, at the UK & Asia Business Awards ceremony in London. [40]
In October 2018, he was awarded the Mahatma Gandhi Honour by the NRI Institute in celebration of their 30th anniversary. [41]
In June 2019, he was awarded an honorary Fellowship by the Zoological Society of London. [42]
In August 2020, Lord and Lady Paul were invited to become members of the MIT Charter Society in recognition of their philanthropic commitment to MIT.
In October 2009 The Sunday Times reported that Lord Paul had been unable to satisfactorily explain claiming expenses of £38,000 for the period January 2005 to July 2006. Lord Paul immediately requested the Clerk of the Parliaments to investigate his expenses at the same time repaying £41,982, instead of £26,988, £15,000, more than the House of Lords would have requested at the conclusion of their investigation. A refund of the difference was never issued by the House of Lords. The Metropolitan Police opened an investigation concerning these expense claims, [43] but by the end of February 2010 concluded there was no case. Lord Paul appeared before various committees for Lord's Conduct with ultimately the Privileges Committee concluding that Lord Paul had not acted dishonestly or in bad faith. They did determine however that he had been negligent and acted in ignorance and that his actions did render him liable to sanction by the House." [44] Lord Paul's suspension was for four months. Lord Paul completely disagreed with their finding, calling it "unreasonable." Lord Paul gave a Speech in the House of Lords in June 2011 calling for reform and revision of the structure of the constitution.
Paul tendered his resignation as Deputy Speaker to the Lord Speaker on 1 November 2010. His letter, printed in The House Magazine a week later, expressed his reservations about the process, calling it "a sad saga for parliamentary democracy – an unfortunate series of events having evidently been inspired by the electoral politics of the media". He has spoken on this topic many times since the expenses scandal initially made news, [45] and maintains that no wrongdoing had occurred in his case. [46] [47]
Lord Paul is on the Sunday Times Rich List as the 38th richest person in Britain, [48] [49] although he claims to take public transport in London "like everybody else". [7] Since the 1960s he has lived in Portland Place, in central London. [5] He and his family own a dozen flats in the block, each one worth close to a million pounds. [49]
His son Angad Paul, CEO of Caparo plc, died after falling from his Marylebone penthouse flat on 8 November 2015. A police statement stated they considered there to be no suspicious circumstances. [50] [51]
|
Nathaniel Charles Jacob Rothschild, 4th Baron Rothschild,, was a British peer, investment banker and member of the Rothschild banking family. Rothschild held important roles in business and British public life, and was active in charitable and philanthropic areas.
Dilip Balwant Vengsarkar is a former Indian cricketer and a cricket administrator. He was considered to have a very good drive. Along with Sunil Gavaskar and Gundappa Viswanath, he was a key player in the Indian batting line up in the late 70s and early 80s. He was a member of the Indian team that won the 1983 Cricket World Cup.Vengsarkar also led the national side to 1988 Asia Cup victory. He was also a part of the Indian squad which won the 1985 World Championship of Cricket. He went on to play until 1992.
Vinod Dham is an Indian-American engineer, entrepreneur, and venture capitalist. He is known as the 'Father of the Pentium Chip' for his contribution to the development of Intel's Pentium micro-processor. He is also a mentor and advisor, and sits on the boards of companies, including startups funded through his India-based fund Indo-US Venture Partners, where he is the founding managing director.
Palaniswamy, better known by his stage name Sivakumar, is an Indian visual artist and former actor who has portrayed a wide range of leading and supporting roles onscreen in Tamil cinema and television.
Ernest Ronald Oxburgh, Baron Oxburgh is an English geologist, geophysicist and politician. Lord Oxburgh is well known for his work as a public advocate in both academia and the business world in addressing the need to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and develop alternative energy sources as well as his negative views on the consequences of current oil consumption.
Manoj Kumar is an Indian actor, film director, screenwriter, lyricist and editor who worked in Hindi cinema who is retired actor. He is known for acting and making films with patriotic themes, and has been given the nickname Bharat Kumar. He is the recipient of a National Film Award and seven Filmfare Awards, in varied categories. He was honoured the Padma Shri in 1992 and Dadasaheb Phalke Award; highest award in field of cinema in 2015 by the Government of India for his contribution to Indian cinema and arts.
The London Book Fair (LBF) is a large book-publishing trade fair held annually, usually in April, in London, England. LBF is a global marketplace for rights negotiation and the sale and distribution of content across print, audio, TV, film and digital channels.
Hero Cycles Limited, based in Ludhiana, Punjab, is an Indian company that manufactures bicycles and bicycle related products. Pankaj M Munjal is the chairman and managing director of Hero Cycles.
Karan Faridoon Bilimoria, Baron Bilimoria, is a British Indian businessman, member of the House of Lords, and former Chancellor of the University of Birmingham.
Kamlesh Kumar Patel, Baron Patel of Bradford, is a member of the House of Lords. Having been appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 1999 Birthday Honours, he was created a life peer as Baron Patel of Bradford, of Bradford in the County of West Yorkshire on 8 June 2006. He currently sits as a non-affiliated peer, as of 20 March 2018, but has previously sat as a crossbench (2006–2008), Labour (2008–2012) and Labour and Co-operative (2012–2018) peer.
Film24 was a British television channel, that was available on Sky channel 157. The company had offices at Pinewood Studios and produced content for the TV channel as well as programmes for international TV, the Internet and mobile distribution. Before its sale in 2010, the channel averaged around a million viewers a week.
The Asian Awards is an annual award ceremony for the global Asian community which takes place in the United Kingdom, with 14 categories that include business, philanthropy, entertainment, culture and sport. Nominees are selected by an independent judging panel initially co-chaired by Baroness Verma and Nat Wei, Baron Wei then from 2014 onwards Karan Bilimoria, Baron Bilimoria.
Rajinder Paul Loomba, Baron Loomba, is a philanthropist, founder and executive chairman of clothing company Loomba Group, and a member of the House of Lords.
John Distilleries Pvt Ltd is an Indian company that produces distilled beverages, and the company's flagship brand is Original Choice whisky. It also manufactures brandy, whisky, wines, and the award winning single malt whisky called Paul John. The founders have sold 51% of the company to Sazerac Company.
Sudhir Choudhrie is an Indian-born and London-based businessman with interests in healthcare, aviation, and hospitality.
K. P. Haridas is an Indian surgeon specializing in minimally invasive surgeries, and the founder of Chairman of Lords Hospital, a super-specialty healthcare centre in Thiruvananthapuram. He is credited with the first successful liver resection, which he performed at the Government Medical College, Thiruvananthapuram.
Caparo plc is a British company involved mainly in the steel industry, primarily in the design, manufacturing and marketing of steel and niche engineering products.
Angad Paul was a British businessman and film producer.
Karan Bhagat is an Indian entrepreneur and investor, who is the founder, CEO and MD of IIFL Wealth & Asset Management, an Indian wealth management firm. He has been listed in fortuneindia.com's 40 Under 40 list in 2016 and 2017. He was also a finalist for the EY Entrepreneur of the Year Award in 2018.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link){{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)