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A top Tory donor and peer has been stripped of his CBE after a series of controversies, including making derogatory remarks about Pakistanis and harassing a journalist.
Lord Rami Ranger, who has donated around £1.5m to the Conservative Party since 2009, was made a CBE in 2016 for services to business and community cohesion.
But a notice published in the London Gazette on Friday said the King had directed Lord Ranger’s CBE to be “cancelled and annulled”.
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The Forfeiture Committee, which decides on whether to strip someone of an honour, is understood to have taken the decision after considering social media posts made by Lord Ranger about the Sikh community, along with comments in the media about Pakistanis.
It also considered the House of Lords Standards Commissioner’s finding in June 2023 that Lord Ranger had harassed and bullied Indian journalist Poonam Joshi in a series of tweets, the PA news agency understands.
The Tory peer was ennobled in 2019 in Theresa May’s resignation honours list but lost the Conservative whip after he was censured by the standards commissioner which found he had bullied and harassed the journalist.
The Lords commissioner for standards ruled he had abused his power by “persistently undermining, humiliating and denigrating Ms Joshi”.
Lord Ranger apologised to Ms Joshi for his conduct, which included calling her “toxic”, “a total nutcase”, and “the epitome of filth and garbage”.
He also promised to undertake social media training and re-attend a seminar on the parliamentary behaviour code.
The commissioner also found Ms Joshi had “publicly made potentially damaging allegations about Lord Ranger”, saying there had been “fault on both sides” in this case.
The Conservatives returned the whip to Lord Ranger in November this year.
Despite his apology, it is understood the Forfeiture Committee considered the fact he was made a CBE for his work on community cohesion meant it was appropriate for him to forfeit his honour.
Lord Ranger is one of six people to lose their honours on Friday, with others including tech entrepreneur Lawrence Jones, who lost his MBE after being jailed for 15 years for a number of sexual offences last year.
The Forfeiture Committee can recommend someone loses an honour for a variety of reasons, including criminal convictions and bringing the honours system into disrepute.
People to have forfeited their honours for bringing the system into disrepute previously include rapper Wiley, who lost his MBE earlier this year after making a series of antisemitic posts on social media, and former Post Office chief executive Paula Vennells, who returned her CBE over her involvement in the Horizon scandal.
According to its website, the committee does not carry out investigations itself, but “reflects the findings of official investigations and makes a recommendation of whether or not the honours system has been brought into disrepute”.
Lord Ranger’s office has been contacted for comment.
