Indian-origin academic, London Mayor Sadiq Khan among new UK peerages

London: A leading Indian-origin academic in the field of psychiatry, Swaran Singh, and London Mayor Sadiq Khan have been conferred with peerages ahead of Keir Starmer's Downing Street exit as British prime minister next week.

Starmer, who announced his decision to step down as Labour Party leader last month, will have an audience with King Charles III on Monday to formalise his resignation and make way for Andy Burnham to take charge as the new prime minister.

As is customary, the government forwards the names for the monarch to confer political peerages as part of a resignation honours process at the departure of a prime minister.


Also Read: US to limit stays of students, journalists

However, Downing Street indicated that the 26 new members who will be entering the House of Lords are part of a cross-party list of nominations that was already in the works before Starmer made his resignation speech last month.

Swaran Singh, Professor of Social and Community Psychiatry at the University of Warwick; Consultant Psychiatrist, Coventry and Warwickshire Partnership NHS Trust; and former Equality and Human Rights Commissioner, is among three nominations from the Opposition Tories.

Singh, in his 60s, led the independent investigation into discrimination, including Islamophobia, within the Conservative Party, dubbed 'The Singh Investigation'.

According to his University of Warwick profile, Singh initially trained as a surgeon in New Delhi before moving to psychiatry after witnessing the effects of violent trauma on children and young people.

Also Read: Indian community groups in UAE urge Centre to resolve passport service crisis, review fee hike

He moved to the UK in 1991 and conducted research on ethnic influences in mental health as a lecturer and joined the University of Warwick, where he is Director of the interdisciplinary Centre for Mental Health and Wellbeing Research.

Meanwhile, Sadiq Khan - who received his knighthood from King Charles in June last year to become Sir Sadiq - will now become Lord Sadiq Khan as a Labour peer in the House of Lords.

The 55-year-old London-born politician of Pakistani heritage has been the Mayor of London since 2016 and former Labour MP for Tooting in south London.

He is among Starmer's 16 picks for peerages, including South Asian heritage human rights expert and co-founder of the Death Penalty Project Parvais Jabbar.

The Liberal Democrats will have five new peers as members of the House of Lords, who are appointed by the King on the advice of the prime minister.

Once a political party's nominee passes the vetting process, appointments to the Upper Chamber of Parliament are then "graciously conferred" by the monarch.