An Indian-origin peer of the House of Lords was on Friday forced to forfeit his Commander of the British Empire (CBE) honour for reportedly “bringing the honours system into disrepute”.
Raminder Singh Ranger, a Conservative Party peer and founder of UK-based FMCG firm Sun Mark Ltd, known as Lord Rami Ranger, had the honour “cancelled and annulled” by King Charles III, a decision that his spokesperson called “unjust” and said Ranger will challenge it.
He was conferred the CBE for services to British business and the Asian community by the late Queen Elizabeth II in the New Year’s Honours list of December 2015.
While the Forfeiture Committee of the UK Cabinet Office does not specify its reasons behind such recommendations, the move follows a Lords probe concluding last year that Ranger had breached the parliamentary Code of Conduct relating to “bullying and harassment”.
“The King has directed that the appointment of Raminder Singh, Baron Ranger to be a Commander of the Civil Division of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, dated December 31, 2015, shall be cancelled and annulled and that his name shall be erased from the Register of the said Order,” reads the official public notice in ‘The London Gazette’.
According to the Cabinet Office guidelines, an honour can be withdrawn if an individual is “found guilty of a criminal offence, behaviour which results in censure by a regulatory or a professional body, or any other behaviour that is deemed to bring the honours system into disrepute”.
“Each case is considered individually. The Committee is not an investigatory body – it does not decide whether or not someone is guilty or innocent of a particular act. Instead, it reflects the findings of official investigations and makes a recommendation of whether or not the honours system has been brought into disrepute,” the rules state.
A spokesperson for Lord Ranger raised “significant concerns” over the “lack of transparency and the high level of secrecy” of the process and said he is looking into challenging the “unjust decision”.
The spokesperson said: “Lord Ranger has not committed any crime nor has he broken any law, where the majority of the people who have had their honour revoked in this way, have committed a crime or broken the law.
“Lord Ranger is devastated that the CBE awarded to him for his services to British business and for promoting community cohesion has been taken away. The Forfeiture Committee has re-visited a number of matters that had already been dealt with and for which Lord Ranger apologised, undertook rehabilitative training around his use of language, and came off social media.”
The spokesperson further added that he is looking at all options for redress via various legal avenues open to him and will challenge this unjust decision in order to vindicate himself and clear his name in the UK and abroad. Lord Ranger was a worthy recipient of his CBE. The manner in which it has been taken from him is shameful.”
Earlier, Ranger had faced a Code of Conduct investigation by the Commissioner for Standards for the House of Lords following a Diwali-related event within the Houses of Parliament complex in London in October 2022.
The complaint accused the peer of shouting and posting derogatory tweets directed at London-based campaigner Poonam Joshi.
“Regarding the possible breach of the rules relating to bullying and harassment, following my consideration of all the evidence, I concluded that Lord Ranger’s behaviour did meet the criteria for bullying and harassment and therefore breached the Code of Conduct,” noted the report by Akbar Khan, Commissioner for Standards for the House of Lords, in June last year.
Ranger expressed “remorse” and issued an apology, as did Joshi for “a share of the responsibility for the circumstances which have arisen”.
The Forfeiture Committee’s decision this week also covers Anil Kumar Bhanot, who was conferred an OBE for services to the Hindu community and inter-faith relations in the late Queen’s Birthday Honours in June 2010.
“The King has directed that the appointment of Anil Kumar Bhanot to be an Officer of the Civil Division of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (OBE), dated 12 June 2010, shall be cancelled and annulled and that his name shall be erased from the Register of the said Order,” reads the entry.
