Aamer Sarfraz, Baron Sarfraz

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The Right Honourable
The Lord Sarfraz
AamerSarfraz3by4.jpg
Official Portrait, 2020
Member of the House of Lords
Lord Temporal
Assumed office
28 September 2020
Life Peerage
Prime Ministerial Trade Envoy to Singapore
Assumed office
12 January 2022
LeaderBoris Johnson
Personal details
Born
Aamer Ahmad Sarfraz

(1981-09-25) 25 September 1981 (age 40)
London
NationalityBritish
Political partyConservative
Spouse(s)
Alma materBoston University
London School of Economics

Aamer Ahmad Sarfraz, Baron Sarfraz (born 25 September 1981) is a British-Pakistani businessman and politician. He was previously a Conservative Party Treasurer, before being nominated for a life peerage by Boris Johnson in the 2019 Dissolution Honours List.[1]

Background[]

Sarfraz was born in London and grew up in Islamabad, before moving to the United Kingdom in 2002. He is a graduate of Boston University, and the London School of Economics.[2]

Business career[]

Sarfraz is founder of Better Grain,[3] an agriculture business working with smallholder farmers in Asia. Sarfraz was previously a Managing Director at The Electrum Group, a private equity firm, and a Venture Partner at Draper Associates, an early-stage technology venture capital firm.[4]

Conservative Party fundraising[]

As a Conservative Party Treasurer, Sarfraz chaired the Business and Entrepreneurs' Forum, described as a 'a network of business leaders that support the Conservative Party', charging £3,000 a year for membership.[5]

Since 2018, he has donated £122,500 to the Conservative Party.[6]

House of Lords[]

Sarfraz was nominated to the House of Lords on 31 July 2020,[7] and was created Baron Sarfraz, of Kensington in the Royal London Borough of Kensington and Chelsea on 8 September 2020.[8] Sarfraz took his seat in the House of Lords on 28 September 2020, and delivered his maiden speech on 19th October 2020. [9] Sarfraz was granted a coat of arms with a baronial coronet by the College of Arms. His shield contains a depiction of the dome of The Prophet's Mosque in Medina, the first such instance in English heraldry. He was also granted heraldic supporters: a lion for the United Kingdom and a snow leopard for Pakistan. His crest features snow-topped mountains in reference to Islamabad, topped by an Islamic crescent.[10] Finally, his motto is "Faith Service".[11]

Sarfraz stated that improving relations between Pakistan and the United Kingdom will be a fundamental part of his new work.[12]

In October 2020, Sarfraz praised the UK government's support for Rohingya Muslims, and called on it to redouble its humanitarian efforts to support religious minorities around the world. [13]

Since January 2021, Sarfraz has been a member of the Science and Technology Committee.[14]

In January 2022, he was appointed as the Prime Minister's Trade Envoy to Singapore.[15]

References[]

  1. ^ "Dissolution Peerages 2019" (PDF). Gov.uk. Retrieved 31 July 2020.
  2. ^ "Queen appoints British-Pakistani Aamer Sarfraz as House of Lords member". The Express Tribune (Pakistan). August 5, 2020. Retrieved August 5, 2020.
  3. ^ "Better Grain Agriculture". Better Grain. Retrieved 31 July 2020.
  4. ^ "A Pair of Silicon Valley Venture Veterans Eye SPACs as a Way to Sidestep IPOs". The Street. Retrieved 31 July 2020.
  5. ^ "Inside the elite Tory fundraising machine". Open Democracy. Retrieved 2 August 2020.
  6. ^ "Electoral Commission". Electoral Commission. Retrieved 2 August 2020.
  7. ^ "Dissolution Peerages 2019" (PDF). Gov.uk. Retrieved 31 July 2020.
  8. ^ "Crown Office". The London Gazette. Retrieved 11 September 2020.
  9. ^ "Hansard". UK Parliament. Retrieved 29 September 2020.
  10. ^ "UK grants first-ever official 'Coat of Arms' featuring 'Green Dome'". Associated Press of Pakistan. Retrieved 8 January 2022.
  11. ^ "Coat of Arms". The Lord Sarfraz. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
  12. ^ "Queen appoints British-Pakistani Aamer Sarfraz as House of Lords member". The Express Tribune (Pakistan). August 5, 2020. Retrieved August 5, 2020.
  13. ^ "We can't rest in our support for the Rohingya Muslims". The Times). October 22, 2020. Retrieved October 22, 2020.
  14. ^ "UK Parliament". Retrieved 29 January 2021.
  15. ^ "UK Parliament". Retrieved 12 January 2022.
Orders of precedence in the United Kingdom
Preceded by Gentlemen
Baron Sarfraz 		Followed by
The Lord McLoughlin
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