Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

Lord Tariq Ahmad

Lord Tariq Ahmad

LORD TARIQ AHMAD is a minister of state who has been given responsibility for one of the most important aspects of British foreign policy – relations with India.

In the last few years, he has been to India around eight times partly to push for closer trade ties with the world’s fastest growing major economy. But it has been also to strengthen defence, intelligence and strategic ties, especially as Russia and China are now seen as adversaries. This requires a great deal of diplomatic skill because India has retained friendly relations with Russia despite president Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. In shorthand, Ahmad is often called “the minister for India”, and the 2030 road map states clearly: “Strengthening the UK-India relationship is a key pillar of the UK’s long-term foreign policy.”


The Foreign and Commonwealth Office is now the FCDO – the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office – following its merger with the Department for International Development in 2020. Ahmad is now minister of state at the FCDO, responsible for the “Middle East, North Africa, South Asia, United Nations and the Commonwealth”. He has also been “special Representative on Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict”.

He has certainly provided continuity in British foreign policy. He has seen foreign secretaries come and go – Boris Johnson (2016-2018), Jeremy Hunt (2018-2019), Dominic Raab (2019-2021), Liz Truss (2021-2022), James Cleverly (2022-2023), and now Lord David Cameron.

Ahmad laughed at how long his place of work at the foreign office had not changed: “I’m into my seventh year now. In the summer – if I am still here – it will be seven years since I started and became minister of state, although I took on the India brief during Boris Johnson’s tenure.” He was born in Lambeth, south London, on April 3, 1968 – “I’m a Londoner, born and bred Brit” – and educated at Rutlish School, Merton Park, in southwest London, and London South Bank University as well as the Chartered Institute of Financial Services. He joined the Conservative Party in 1994. In 2002, he was elected a councillor in Wimbledon. He unsuccessfully contested Croydon North for the Conservatives in 2005. From 2008 to 2010, he served as vice[1]chairman of the Conservative Party.

Like so many others, he came into politics full time after a 20-year career in banking and finance, and created Baron Ahmad of Wimbledon in the London Borough of Merton in 2011. Since 2014, he has held several ministerial portfolios in such departments as transport and communities and local government. A member of the Ahmadiyya Muslim community, which is persecuted in Pakistan, Iran and other countries, he and his wife Saddiqa, who have a daughter and two sons, live in London. He recalled a conversation with Hunt in the foreign secretary’s office when Ahmad was asked whether it was wise for him to take up the plight of persecuted Christians, “ ‘bearing in mind, you’re Muslim and your community themselves are persecuted’. I said, ‘Jeremy, by standing up for the rights of Christians we are actually standing up for the rights of others. Often, where you see Christians persecuted, you see all communities persecuted. It’s easy sometimes to stand up for your own rights. The real test of your faith or belief is when you stand up for the rights and beliefs of others.

At India’s Republic Day receptions in London, Ahmad normally turns out for the government. He also attends the Hinduja Diwali party. What is probably much more important is that he is treated in India as a trusted friend. He feels he has invested in relationships. “Foreign affairs and diplomacy are a serious business. The British way of doing things is often quite discreet. It’s often understated. And I have been able to take a lot of the learnings in my 20 years in the financial services sector and apply them. The most important learning in both cases, but particularly in the role I do, is investing in relationships, working through relationships. I do count (India’s) foreign minister (Subrahmanyam) Jaishankar as one of my friends.” In his office at the foreign office, he sits next to the customary Union flag. In a conversation with GG2 Power List, he spoke in emotional terms about his family’s links with both India and Pakistan – “on a lighter note I often say who better to bridge the gap between India and Pakistan?” His father was born in Gurdaspur in Punjab in India but came to Scotland not long after Partition as a young man. “That was in the early 1950s. It wasn’t easy. He came with five pounds and he worked on the railways.” His father did not live to see him enter the Lords which his mother, who has since also passed away, did – “it was a very emotional experience for Ammi”. But he did return to Gurdaspur with his father (“you could see the joy in his face when he was there”). His mother was born in Jodhpur in Rajasthan but moved as a little girl to Karachi with her family before coming to the UK.

Last year when Ahmad finally managed his first visit to Jodhpur, he was overcome by the warmth of the reception. “My maternal grandfather was actually treasurer to the Maharajah of Jodhpur. I received an incredible reception when I arrived. There were flower petals, bands playing, they said it was a son of Rajasthan returning 77 years after the family left. They said, ‘This is for you.’ ”

He was now a British minister, batting for Britain, but reflected on the twists and turns of history. “Right across from my corridor is the India Council Chamber. And I said to Ammi – she was alive at the time – and some members of my family that this was the place from where British India was run. And within a generation, you had someone of my heritage, responsible for relations with India. That’s a reflection of the strength of the UK. Indeed, look no further than No. 10.”

He stressed: “History matters. Heritage matters. Faith matters. Ultimately, I’m very proud and honoured to represent our country. You have pinch me moments. For the first time when I actually chaired a debate at the UN Security Council, you think of the early struggles when Partition happened and families lost everything.” Whether a bilateral Free Trade Agreement, which the UK and the Indian governments have been striving for, will be signed this year remains to be seen. But Ahmad and his officials have made a difference. On his last trip to India in January this year, he signed Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) on such key issues as climate change, pharmaceuticals, cyber and education with two of the country’s most prosperous states – Tamil Nadu and Gujarat. He also had an encounter with the Indian prime minister Narendra Modi.

The de facto “minister for India” summed up what he was able to achieve: “Over a three-day visit to India, I visited two states, signed 23 MoUs between the UK and India, gave five speeches, four TV interviews and had over 30 meetings with state and federal leaders.”

More For You