The Lord Ranger | |
---|---|
Member of the House of Lords Lord Temporal | |
Assumed office 11 October 2019 Life peerage | |
Personal details | |
Born | Raminder Singh Ranger 28 May 1948 Gujranwala, West Punjab, Pakistan |
Nationality | British |
Political party | Conservative |
Spouse | Renu Ranger |
Children | 3, including Reena Ranger |
Occupation | Businessman |
Raminder Singh Ranger, Baron Ranger, CBE (born 28 May 1948) is a British businessman, and the founder of Sun Mark and Sea Air & Land Forwarding, an international marketing and distribution company. He is also chairman and managing director of Sea Air and Land Forwarding Ltd.
He was nominated for a life peerage in Theresa May's 2019 resignation honours, [1] and was created Baron Ranger, of Mayfair in the City of Westminster , on 11 October 2019. [2] [3]
Raminder Singh Ranger was born on 28 May 1948 [4] in Gujranwala, Pakistan. The family moved to Patiala in Indian Punjab as refugees of the partition of India. [5] There he attended Mohindra College and obtained a Bachelor of Arts from Government College, Chandigarh. [5]
He has seven brothers and a sister. Ranger ceased his studies after reaching the UK, where he had gone to study law, in May 1971.
Ranger is the Chairman of Sun Mark Ltd and Sea Air & Land Forwarding Ltd. [6] He was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of West London in July 2016. [7]
An employment tribunal ruled in 2021 that Ranger harassed a woman who complained about sexual harassment in his company. [8] [9] [10] [11]
He was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2005 Birthday Honours for services to business and the Asian community, [12] and made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2016 New Year Honours for services to business and community cohesion. [13]
As of January 2018, Ranger, through Sun Mark, had donated more than £1 million to the Conservative Party, and £25,000 to Theresa May's party leadership campaign. [14]
Ranger was appointed the joint chairman of Conservative Friends of India in 2018, sharing the role with then-MP Zac Goldsmith. The group, which is affiliated to the Conservative Party, aims to build stronger links between the party, the British Indian community and India. [15]
A representative of Nithyananda attended a Diwali event held in October 2022 at the Houses of Parliament as a guest of the Hindu Forum of Britain. Nithya Atmadayananda, a prominent supporter of Nithyananda, was photographed with Bob Blackman and President of the Hindu Forum of Britain, Trupti Patel. The event was attended by Rami Ranger. The brochure for the event featured a full-page advert for Kailasa UK containing images of Nithyananda. [16] [17] [18] [19] Ranger told The Observer he had no knowledge of Nithyananda or his organisation stating: "I do not know Kailaasa or this person." [20]
Ranger was reported in December 2022 to be under investigation by authorities at the House of Lords in regard to the alleged harassment of journalist Poonam Joshi who reported on Ranger's attendance at a Diwali event in the Houses of Parliament also attended by a representative of fugitive Cult-leader Nithyananda. Ranger is alleged to have used Twitter and WhatsApp to send Joshi messages that threatened her. [21] In June 2023 Ranger was criticised by the House of Lords Commissioner for Standards for bullying and harassing Joshi. [22] [23]
In January 2023 it was reported that Ranger had sent a letter to BBC Director General Tim Davie regarding the documentary "India: The Modi Question" in which he asked if "Pakistani-origin staff were behind this nonsense". [24] [25]
Ranger is married to Renu, and they have three daughters. [26] [27] His eldest daughter, Reena Ranger, is also a Conservative politician, and has taken over from him as co-chairman of Conservative Friends of India. [26] Reena is married to Harmeet "Sunny" Singh Ahuja, who is the CEO of Sun Mark and the Ranger family businesses. [26] [27]
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest institutions in the world, its origins lie in the early 11th century and the emergence of bicameralism in the 13th century.
The House of Lords Act 1999 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed the House of Lords, one of the chambers of Parliament. The Act was given Royal Assent on 11 November 1999. For centuries, the House of Lords had included several hundred members who inherited their seats ; the Act removed such a right. However, as part of a compromise, the Act did permit ninety-two hereditary peers to remain in the House. Another ten were created life peers to enable them to remain in the House.
John David Beckett Taylor, Baron Taylor of Warwick is a member of the House of Lords in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. His full title is "The Lord Taylor of Warwick". In 1996, at the age of 44, he became one of the youngest people in the upper house.
Robert John Blackman is a British politician who has been the Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) for Harrow East since 2010. He has served as the Joint Executive Secretary of the backbench 1922 Committee since 2012. Blackman was the Member of the London Assembly (MLA) for Brent and Harrow between 2004 and 2008.
Charles Patrick Fleeming Jenkin, Baron Jenkin of Roding, was a British Conservative Party politician who served as a cabinet minister in Margaret Thatcher's first government.
Malcolm Everard MacLaren Pearson, Baron Pearson of Rannoch is a British businessman and politician who was leader of the UK Independence Party (UKIP) from 2009 to 2010. He currently sits as an independent member of the House of Lords. A Eurosceptic, he was a staunch supporter of pro-Brexit campaign Leave Means Leave.
Peter William Bone is a British former politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Wellingborough from 2005 until his removal in 2023. A member of the Conservative Party, he had sat as an independent in the House of Commons after the Conservative whip was withdrawn from him in 2023, until he was removed by a recall petition in December of that year. He campaigned for Brexit in the EU referendum and was part of the political advisory board of Leave Means Leave. From July to September 2022, he served as Deputy Leader of the House of Commons.
Charles Henry John Benedict Crofton Chetwynd Chetwynd-Talbot, 22nd Earl of Shrewsbury, 22nd Earl of Waterford, 7th Earl Talbot,, styled Viscount Ingestre until 1980, is an English nobleman and the Lord High Steward of Ireland. He is the premier earl in the Peerage of England as the Earl of Shrewsbury, and in the Peerage of Ireland as the Earl of Waterford (1446). He also holds the titles of Earl Talbot and Baron Talbot.
The Hindu Forum of Britain is an umbrella organisation of Hindu groups in the United Kingdom. Scholars have observed parallels between its discourse and Hindutva organisations in India and suggest possible links.
In the Parliament of the United Kingdom, Members of Parliament (MPs) can be suspended from sitting in the House of Commons by the Speaker for "disorderly conduct". The Speaker can order an MP removed from the house until the end of the day. The speaker more often "names" an MP.
Peter Selwyn Gummer, Baron Chadlington FCIPR FIoD FCinstM FRSA is an English businessman and former head of Huntsworth, one of the largest lobbying firms in the United Kingdom.
Guy Vaughan Black, Baron Black of Brentwood is Deputy Chairman of the Telegraph Media Group.
Kulveer Singh Ranger, Baron Ranger of Northwood is an English strategy and communications executive, TechUK board member, and a non-aligned member of the House of Lords.
Non-affiliated members of the House of Lords are peers who do not belong to any parliamentary group in the House of Lords of the United Kingdom. They do not take a political party's whip, nor affiliate to the crossbench group, nor are they Lords Spiritual. Formerly, the law lords were also a separate affiliation, but their successors, if peers, are disqualified from sitting in the Lords until they no longer hold a judicial position.
Christina Rees is a Welsh politician serving as Member of Parliament for Neath since 2015. She is a member of the Labour and Co-operative parties.
James Roger Crompton Lupton, Baron Lupton, is a former Chairman of Greenhill Europe and Co-Treasurer of the Conservative Party, having donated circa £3.3 million to the party.
James Nicholas Bethell, 5th Baron Bethell is a British hereditary peer and Conservative politician in the House of Lords. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he was Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Innovation at the Department of Health and Social Care and was involved in negotiating various controversial contracts.
Reena Ranger, is a British community leader and businesswoman, who serves as a Councillor for Three Rivers District Council.
Malcolm Ian Offord, Baron Offord of Garvel, is a Scottish financier and Conservative Party politician in the House of Lords. He currently serves as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Exports.
The Sunak ministry began on 25 October 2022 when Rishi Sunak was invited by King Charles III to succeed Liz Truss as prime minister of the United Kingdom. Truss resigned as leader of the Conservative Party the previous day after Sunak was elected as her successor. The Sunak ministry was formed from the 2019 Parliament of the United Kingdom, as a Conservative majority government. Sunak has reshuffled his cabinet twice, first in February 2023 and later in November 2023.