King Charles Strips Lord Rami Ranger Of British Royal Honour
Lord Rami Ranger has lost his CBE honour for bullying and harassing a journalist. The Forfeiture Committee determined his actions undermined the integrity of the honours system.
Prominent Tory donor Lord Rami Ranger has been stripped of his Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) honour, with the Forfeiture Committee, responsible for advising on the removal of honours, determined that he had "undermined the integrity of the honours system". The decision followed a report by the Lords Standards Commissioner, which concluded that he had bullied and harassed a London-based Indian journalist on social media. Additionally, he was also found to have made derogatory comments about other groups within his own community.
An announcement on Friday in the London Gazette, which publishes the government’s statutory notices, said King Charles III had directed that the businessman’s Commander of the Order of the British Empire would be “cancelled and annulled”.
"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 31 December 2015, shall be cancelled and annulled and that his name shall be erased from the Register of the said Order," the notice read.
Millionaire Lord Ranger, who donated some £1.5 million to the Conservative Party, was made a peer by Theresa May in 2019. This was three years after he was made a CBE for “services to business and community cohesion”. Ranger is well known to Indian domestic TV audiences for his appearances on news networks, lobbying for the UK-India relationship.
The Forfeiture Committee is understood to have taken the decision after considering Lord Ranger had brought the honours system into disrepute in a series of tweets to the minority British Asian communities along with derogatory tweets to the Indian journalist.
In 2022 and 2023, Ranger took to social media to make a series of unfounded allegations against the London-based journalist, Poonam Joshi. The allegations came after she questioned him about hosting at the House of Lords representatives the fugitive cult leader Nithyananda accused of child abduction and rape.
In a series of tweets, Ranger called Joshi "a press***ute", "toxic", “an evil woman”, a “total disgrace” and the “epitome of filth and garbage”. He also falsely alleged that Joshi’s husband was a domestic abuser and warned her: “I will teach you a lesson."
He was referred to the House of Lords Standards Commissioner over the tweets in June 2023 and was then found by the commissioner to have harassed and bullied Joshi. He was also found to have abused his power by “persistently undermining, humiliating and denigrating Ms Joshi”. Lord Ranger later apologised to Joshi for his conduct and agreed to settle a defamation claim, which he brought against her in the UK.
At the time he was asked to undertake social media training and re-attend a seminar on the parliamentary behaviour code. He was also stripped of his Conservative whip, which was reinstated in November this year.
Rami Ranger's Response
Rami Ranger responded to the development saying he was being punished for "opposing Khalistanis". "Today, I lost my CBE for standing up against Khalistanis who wish to break up India and the BBC for producing a two-part documentary with the help of anti-Prime Minister Modi guests to imply that the PM was involved in the Gujarat riots some 20 years after the riots and for which PM Modi was exonerated by the highest court in India," he said in a statement, reported news agency ANI.
Ranger said that he would file an appeal in the European Court of Human Rights and pursue judicial recourse.
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