The Lord Ranger | |
|---|---|
 Official portrait, 2019 | |
| 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]
