Peerages for two British Asians

TWO British Asian men have featured on the list of 36 nominees elevated to the House of Lords.

While Aamer A. Sarfraz, is a social entrepreneur and treasurer of the Conservative Party, was part of the dissolution peerages list, academic Prem Sikka was nominated by former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.

Sarfraz is a venture partner at Draper Associates, a leading Silicon Valley venture capital fund. In 2018, he was named in the Silicon Valley Business Journal's "40 under 40" list.

He is an adviser to the Conservative Party on community outreach, and has also been engaged in social welfare initiatives.

Sarfraz is also the founder of Better Grain, an agritech business that supports thousands of smallholder farmers in Asia, with special fpcus on technology-centric farming systems.

Sikka, meanwhile, is a professor of accounting at the University of Sheffield and emeritus professor at the University of Essex.

He had led a Labour-commissioned inquiry in 2018 to analyse the pay of top executives, and recommended that remunerations at the helm of about 7,000 large companies should be subject to an annual binding vote.

Other eye-catching nominees included the prime minister's younger brother, Jo Johnson, and former England cricket captain Ian Botham.

Jo Johnson had quit as a junior minister last year because he disagreed with his older sibling Boris Johnson's Brexit strategy as he supported remaining in the European Union in the 2016 referendum.

In another apparent olive branch to heal Brexit divisions within his Conservative Party, the prime minister nominated former chancellor Philip Hammond, a prominent remainer who was long the target of vitriolic attacks by Brexit supporters.

Botham, who in in the eighties was regarded by many fans as one of its finest all-rounders, was reportedly recognised for his enthusiastic Brexit campaigning.

Most political nominations tilted more towards the Brexit camp, with peerages bestowed on former opposition Labour lawmakers Kate Hoey and Gisela Stuart, who as ardent Brexiteers became unlikely allies of Johnson during the referendum.

Another notable nomination that created a buzz was that of Evgeny Lebedev, the British-Russian owner of the Evening Standard and Independent newspapers. He is the son of Alexander Lebedev, a former KGB agent who became an oligarch.

Lebedev, who has spent most of his life in Britain, is frequently seen in high society circles in London, where he is active as a charity campaigner and patron of the arts. He controversially appointed former Conservative chancellor George Osborne, who had no previous experience in journalism, as editor of the Evening Standard in 2017.

The House of Lords has more than 800 members, and despite perennial complaints that the number is far too high and the nominations process opaque and prone to cronyism, prime ministers from all sides have enthusiastically added to its numbers.

THE FULL LIST

Dissolution Peerages

Nominations from the leader of the Conservative Party:

1. Sir Henry Bellingham – lately MP for North West Norfolk and

former parliamentary under-secretary of state for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs.

2. Rt Hon Kenneth Clarke CH QC – lately Member of Parliament for Rushcliffe and

former Chancellor of the Exchequer.

3. Rt Hon Ruth Davidson MSP – Member of the Scottish Parliament for Edinburgh

Central and former leader of the Scottish Conservative Party.

4. Rt Hon Philip Hammond – lately Member of Parliament for Runnymede and

Weybridge and former Chancellor of the Exchequer.

5. Rt Hon Nicholas Herbert CBE – lately MP for Arundel and South

Downs and former minister of state for Policing and Criminal Justice.

6. Rt Hon Joseph Johnson – lately MP for Orpington and minister of

state for Universities, Science, Research and Innovation.

7. Colonel Rt Hon John Mark Lancaster TD VR – lately MP for

North East Milton Keynes and minister for the Armed Forces.

8. Rt Hon Sir Patrick McLoughlin CH – lately MP for Derbyshire

Dales, former chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and chairman of the Conservative

Party.

9. Aamer Sarfraz – Conservative Party treasurer and venture partner at Draper Associates.
10. Rt Hon Edward Vaizey – lately MP for Wantage and former minister

of state for culture, communications and creative industries.

Nominations for the leader of the Labour Party:

11. Kathryn Clark – former MP for North Ayrshire and Arran.
12. Brinley Davies – Director of Union Pension Services Ltd.

Nomination for the Leader of the Democratic Unionist Party:

13. Rt Hon Nigel Dodds OBE – lately MP for North Belfast and deputy

leader of the Democratic Unionist Party.

Nominations for non-affiliated Peerages

14. Rt Hon Frank Field – lately Member of Parliament for Birkenhead and chair of the

Work and Pensions Select Committee.

15. Catharine Hoey – lately MP for Vauxhall and former chair of the

Northern Ireland Affairs Select Committee.

16. Ian Austin – lately MP for Dudley North and former parliamentary

under-secretary of state for communities and local government.

17. Rt Hon Gisela Stuart – Chair of Wilton Park and former MP for

Birmingham Edgbaston.

18. John Woodcock – UK special envoy for countering violent extremism and former MP for Barrow and Furness.

Dissolution Honours 2019

Knighthood

Philip May

For political service

Cllr Raymond Puddifoot MBE

For services to the London Borough of Hillingdon

Political peerages

Nominations from the Leader of the Conservative Party:

1. Lorraine Fullbrook – former MP for South Ribble.
2. Sir Edward Udny-Lister – chief strategic adviser to the PM and former

deputy mayor of London.

3. Daniel Moylan – Chairman of Urban Design London and former member of Kensington

and Chelsea Council.

4. Andrew Sharpe OBE – Chairman of the National Conservative Convention and vice-chair of Policy Forum.
5. Michael Spencer – Chairman of IPGL (Holdings) Ltd and Centre for Policy Studies.
6. Veronica Wadley CBE – Chair of the Expert Panel for Model Music Curriculum and

former editor of the Evening Standard.

7. James Wharton – former parliamentary under-secretary of state for International

Development and MP for Stockton South.

8. Dame Helena Morrissey – financier and campaigner, independent non-executive

director at St James Place and founder of the 30% Club

9. Neil Mendoza – Provost of Oriel College and non-executive board member of the

Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.

Nominations from the former leader of the Labour Party

10. Susan Hayman – lately MP for Workington.
11. Prem Sikka – Professor of accounting at the University of Sheffield.
12. Anthony Woodley – formerly joint-general secretary of Unite.

Nominations for non-affiliated Peerages

13. Claire Fox – Director and founder of the Institute of Ideas.
14. Charles Moore – journalist and biographer.

Nominations for Crossbench Peerages

15. Sir Ian Botham – Cricket commentator and chairman of Durham County Cricket Club.
16. Dame Louise Casey – Former civil servant, visiting professor King's College London

and Cofounder and Chair, Institute of Global Homelessness.

17. Evgeny Lebedev – owner of The Independent, The Evening Standard and London Live

and patron of Space for Giants.

18. Dame Nemat (Minouche) Shafik, director of the London School of Economics and Political Science.