INVESTMENT banker Jitesh Gadhia and Shami Chakrabarti, the former director of pressure group Liberty, have both been made peers as part of the honours list announced last evening (4).
Gadhia, who has been in banking for more than two decades, is a member of the board of UK Government Investments Limited and the BGL Group. He was previously at Blackstone, Barclays Capital, ABN AMRO and Baring Brothers. Gadhia studied economics at Cambridge and did his masters in management from London Business School. His father Kishorebhai was a prominent figure in the Gujarati community, who left India for Uganda before arriving in the UK in the 1970s.
When David Cameron welcomed India’s prime minister Narendra Modi at Wembley Stadium in London last November, he concluded his speech, said to be written by Gadhia, with the words, Acche din zaroor ayengey, a reference to what the visiting leader said when he won the general election in 2014.
Chakrabarti, who most recently chaired an inquiry into anti-Semitism at Labour, was nominated for a peerage by party leader Jeremy Corbyn.
She was the director of Liberty from 2003 to March this year, when she stepped down from the post.
A barrister by background, she was called to the Bar in 1994 and previously worked as a lawyer in the Home Office from 1996 until 2001.
Among other recipients in the list are former chancellor George Osborne, who was named a Companion of Honour, a title held by 65 people at any one time, for his services to government over a long period.
Defence minister Michael Fallon becomes a Knight Commander in the list, which has been approved by the queen and includes 46 names.
Cameron awarded peerages to 16 people, many of whom held positions within his office.
Devotees and visitors admire the annakut during the event
