BORN in Lambeth to immigrant parents, Lord Tariq Ahmad has packed an extraordinary array of jobs and roles into a 30-year career that has encompassed banking, finance, marketing, local politics, national politics and, currently, international politics.
As Boris Johnson’s minister of state to the United Nations, south Asia and the Commonwealth and his special envoy on Freedom of Religion and Belief, he has become something of a global statesman.
In the past year alone he has addressed the United Nations on issues such as international peace and security, the global pandemic and climate change. He has visited India to help strengthen bilateral trading ties and promote the UK’s role in working with India on a wide range of issues. He has also addressed the OSCE (Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe) on the issue of corruption and put pressure on the new Myanmar government to address human rights concerns.
The global pandemic may have affected his ability to travel, but thanks to Zoom and virtual conferencing, Lord Ahmad has made influential pronouncements in a wide range of topics.
Speaking in person to the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva last February, he said the UK would place the promotion and protection of human rights at the top of its list of international priorities.
“As a global force for good, we (the UK) will continue to uphold and defend the international rule of law, the values of liberal democracy, and the rights and freedoms of citizens around the world.”
He added: “We could solve many of the world’s most serious problems, and achieve virtually every sustainable development goal by 2030, if every girl in the world had at least 12 years of quality education. We will strain every sinew to achieve that goal, while also striving to end sexual violence in conflict, and violence against women and girls.
“We also pledge to stand up for freedom of expression, thought, conscience, and religion or belief; to defend media freedom, stand up for journalists and other media workers, and support other civil society groups that hold the powerful to account.”
Singling out Syria, Myanmar, Iran, North Korea and China for human rights abuses, he said the United Kingdom would implement a new autonomous human rights sanctions regime to “punish those who violate and abuse human rights.” And he pointed out that “millions of people around the world continue to be deprived of their rights and freedoms.”
Next, it was the subject of climate change that this roving representative of Britain addressed at the international Climate Vulnerable Forum, chaired by the prime minister of Bangladesh, calling for a Covid recovery based on a “fairer, greener and more resilient” global economy.
“As the world recovers from Covid-19, we must work together to ensure economic recoveries are green and resilient and support our shared objectives for the climate,” he said, adding: “In doing so, we must help those worst-affected by the double tragedy of Covid-19 and climate change to adapt and come back stronger.
“Coronavirus has provided a stark reminder of what happens when humanity’s relationship with nature breaks down. As we recover, we have an opportunity to protect and restore nature, reducing our exposure both to deadly viruses and climate impacts. The Paris Agreement and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development are crucial frameworks for guiding the recovery.”
Ten years ago, Lord Ahmed’s elevation to the international political stage might not have seemed an obvious career path. At that time he was still working as a banker, his political ambitions circumscribed by the town hall chamber at Merton Council south London where he served as a Tory councillor. A friend of Theresa May, who moved in the same local Tory circles, and had herself been a Merton councillor in the nineties, he came to national prominence in the party as its deputy chairman from 2008 to 2010 and was, subsequently, made a life peer by David Cameron, receiving the honorary title of Baron Ahmad of Wimbledon.
In 2014, Ahmad was promoted to parliamentary under-secretary of state at the Department for Communities and Local Government.
After the 2015 general election, he was appointed jointly as minister for skills and aviation security at the Department for Transport and minister for countering extremism at the Home Office. In 2016, he was appointed minister for aviation, international trade and Europe at the Department for Transport in the first May ministry.
After the 2017 general election, Ahmad was appointed minister of state at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office with responsibilities to the Commonwealth, the United Nations, and the prime minister’s special representative on preventing sexual violence in conflict and later south Asia.
Lord Ahmad is one of a very few number of ministers to have served under the last three prime ministers.
Of Boris Johnson, he says: “I think we have someone as prime minister who not only understands the importance of relationships with our international partners, but who has also built a vision of a global Britain and a vision of the United Kingdom outside the European Union.
“We want to have a good working relationship with the EU, renew and build and extend our relationship across the Commonwealth and the rest of the world, and we are doing just that,” he adds.
Before becoming a peer, Lord Ahmad had a 20-year career in the City working in banking and finance, including at the NatWest Group, where he was a senior manager in corporate banking and financial markets. He was later vice-president and marketing director of Alliance Bernstein and his last role before joining the government was as strategy and marketing director at Sucden Financial.
Lord Ahmad’s mother was born in Jodhpur, Rajasthan, and his father in Gurdaspur, Punjab. Educated at Rutlish School, Merton Park, southwest London, he is a member of the Ahmadiyya Muslim community.
“Being an Ahmadiyya Muslim also provides me the strength and conviction to stand up for any persecuted minority wherever they may be in the world,” he says.
