Raminder Singh Ranger, Baron Ranger, (born 28 May 1948) is a British businessman, and the founder of

Sun Mark Sun Mark (Sun Mark Limited) is a British company engaged in the marketing and distribution of fast-moving consumer goods. Founded in 1995, it is based in Greenford, London Borough of Ealing. It markets a range of own label products. The company ...

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 peer In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the peerage whose titles cannot be inherited, in contrast to hereditary peers. In modern times, life peerages, always created at the rank of baron, are created under the Life Peerages ...

age in

Theresa May Theresa Mary May, Lady May (; née Brasier; born 1 October 1956) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2016 to 2019. She previously served in David Cameron's cabi ...

's 2019 resignation honours, and was created ''Baron Ranger, of

Mayfair Mayfair is an affluent area in the West End of London towards the eastern edge of Hyde Park, in the City of Westminster, between Oxford Street, Regent Street, Piccadilly and Park Lane. It is one of the most expensive districts in the world ...

in the

City of Westminster The City of Westminster is a city and borough in Inner London. It is the site of the United Kingdom's Houses of Parliament and much of the British government. It occupies a large area of central Greater London, including most of the West En ...

'', on 11 October 2019.

Early life and education

Raminder Singh Ranger was born on 28 May 1948 in Gujranwala, Pakistan. The family moved to

Patiala Patiala () is a city in southeastern Punjab, northwestern India. It is the fourth largest city in the state and is the administrative capital of Patiala district. Patiala is located around the '' Qila Mubarak'' (the 'Fortunate Castle') constru ...

Indian Punjab Punjab (; ) is a state in northern India. Forming part of the larger Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, the state is bordered by the Indian states of Himachal Pradesh to the north and northeast, Haryana to the south and southeast, and R ...

as refugees of the

partition of India The Partition of British India in 1947 was the Partition (politics), change of political borders and the division of other assets that accompanied the dissolution of the British Raj in South Asia and the creation of two independent dominions: ...

.Punjab-origin Rami Ranger moves from Partition rags to House of Lords
''

Hindustan Times ''Hindustan Times'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper based in Delhi. It is the flagship publication of HT Media, an entity controlled by the KK Birla family, and is owned by Shobhana Bhartia. It was founded by Sunder Singh Ly ...

''. There he attended

Mohindra College Established in 1875, Government Mohindra College Patiala, Punjab, India is the oldest institution of contemporary higher learning in Northern India. Mohindra College was the first institution in Punjab to receive A++ grade from the National ...

and obtained a Bachelor of Arts from Government College, Chandigarh. 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.

Career

Ranger is the Chairman of Sun Mark Ltd and Sea Air & Land Forwarding Ltd. He was awarded an honorary doctorate from the

University of West London The University of West London (UWL) is a public research university in the United Kingdom with campuses in Ealing, Brentford, and in Reading, Berkshire. The university has roots in 1860, when the Lady Byron School was founded, later Ealing Col ...

in July 2016. An employment tribunal ruled in 2021 that Ranger harassed a woman who complained about sexual harassment in his company.

Honours

He was appointed a

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

(MBE) in the

2005 Birthday Honours The Birthday Honours 2005 for the Commonwealth realms were announced on 11 June 2005 to celebrate the Queen's Birthday of 2005. The recipients of honours are displayed here as they were styled before their new honour, and arranged first by the coun ...

for services to business and the Asian community, and made a

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

(CBE) in the

2016 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 2016 were appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebrati ...

for services to business and community cohesion.

Social and political work

As of January 2018, Ranger, through Sun Mark, had donated more than £1 million to the

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

, and £25,000 to

's party leadership campaign. Ranger was appointed the joint chairman of

Conservative Friends of India The Conservative Friends of India is linked to the Conservative Party in the UK, and is a membership organization which engages with the British Indian community and played a significant role in the Conservative campaign in the 2019 general electi ...

in 2018, sharing the role with then-MP

Zac Goldsmith Frank Zacharias Robin Goldsmith, Baron Goldsmith of Richmond Park, (born 20 January 1975) is a British politician, life peer and journalist serving as Minister of State for Overseas Territories, Commonwealth, Energy, Climate and Environment s ...

. The group, which is affiliated to the Conservative Party, aims to build stronger links between the party, the British Indian community and India.

Hindu Forum of Britain

A representative of

Nithyananda Nithyananda, (born Arunachalam Rajasekaran; 1 January 1978) known among followers as Nithyananda Paramashivam or Paramahamsa Nithyananda, is an Indian Hindu guru, " godman" and cult leader. He is subject of an Interpol Blue notice and a court ...

attended a

Diwali Diwali (), Dewali, Divali, or Deepavali ( IAST: ''dīpāvalī''), also known as the Festival of Lights, related to Jain Diwali, Bandi Chhor Divas, Tihar, Swanti, Sohrai, and Bandna, is a religious celebration in Indian religions. It i ...

event held in October 2022 at the

Houses of Parliament The Palace of Westminster serves as the meeting place for both the House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Informally known as the Houses of Parliament, the Palace lies on the north bank ...

as a guest of the

Hindu Forum of Britain The Hindu Forum of Britain ( ) is an umbrella organisation of Hindu groups in the United Kingdom. The organization has ties with Hindu nationalist organizations of India and scholars have observed parallels between its discourse and hardline Hindu ...

. Nithya Atmadayananda, a prominent supporter of Nithyananda, was photographed with

Bob Blackman Robert John Blackman (born 26 April 1956) is a British politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Harrow East since 2010. A member of the Conservative Party, he has served as the Joint Executive Secretary of the backbench 1922 ...

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. Ranger told ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper Sunday editions, published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group, Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. ...

'' he had no knowledge of Nithyananda or his organisation stating: "I do not know Kailaasa or this person."

Attacks on Journalists

Ranger was reported in December 2022 to be under investigation by authorities at the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by appointment, heredity or official function. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster ...

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. In June 2023 Ranger was criticised by the

House of Lords Commissioner for Standards There are currently two House of Lords Commissioners for Standards, officers of the United Kingdom House of Lords. When the post was created in 2010 there was a single commissioner who was "responsible for the independent and impartial investigat ...

for bullying and harassing Joshi. In January 2023 it was reported that Ranger had sent a letter to BBC Director General

Tim Davie Timothy Douglas Davie (born 25 April 1967 in Croydon, London) is the current and seventeenth Director-General of the BBC. He succeeded Tony Hall in the role on 1 September 2020. Davie was formerly the chief executive officer of BBC Studios. ...

regarding the documentary " India: The Modi Question" in which he asked if "Pakistani-origin staff were behind this nonsense".

Personal life

His daughter, Reena Ranger, is also a Conservative politician.

References

External links

Twitter page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ranger, Rami Ranger, Baron 1948 births Living people British businesspeople of Indian descent Indian emigrants to England Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Conservative Party (UK) donors Conservative Party (UK) life peers British company founders Life peers created by Elizabeth II People from Gujranwala Naturalised citizens of the United Kingdom British politicians of Punjabi descent