PIOs in British Parliament

Rishi Sunak
British Prime Minister Sunak has been the leader of the Conservative Party since October 2022. He is an MP from Richmond (Yorks) since 2015.Sunak was born in Southampton to parents of Indian descent who immigrated to Britain from East Africa in the 1960s.

Ranil Jayawardena
He is a Conservative Party MP from North East Hampshire since 2015. Born in London, Jayawardena moved to Hampshire before starting school. His father is of Sri Lankan origin, who moved to the UK in 1978. His mother is of Indian origin

Preet Gill
She has been an MP from Birmingham Edgbaston since 2017. Preet has been Shadow Cabinet Minister for International Development since 2020. She was born to Indian parents in Birmingham. Her father was a foreman, and later a bus driver and her mother worked as a seamstress.

Priti Patel
She is an MP from Witham since 2010. Patel is ideologically on the right wing of the Conservative Party; she considers herself to be a Thatcherite and has attracted attention for her socially conservative stances. She served as Home Secretary from 2019 to 2022 and as Secretary of State for International Development from 2016 to 2017.

Claire Countinho
A member of the Conservative Party, she won from Surrey East. Coutinho lives in the stockbroker belt of Surrey. She worked for two years as adviser to Rishi Sunak, then Chief Secretary to the Treasury. An Oxford graduate, she started her career in banking. Her parents, both doctors, came to the UK from India in 1970s.

Seema Malhotra
She has been a Labour MP from Feltham and Heston since 2011. She has also served as the Shadow Minister for Business and Consumers since 2021. Of Indian descent, Malhotra is a former management consultant who worked for Accenture and PwC.

Nadia Whittome
She won as a Labour candidate from Notthingham East and is the youngest serving MP. After victory, she was quoted as saying, “I am looking forward to using my platform to connect with disenfranchised young people, especially young people of colour, and amplify their voices.” Her Punjabi Sikh father migrated to the UK from India at the age of 21.

Navendu Mishra
A Labour Party winner from Stockport, Mishra is a former trade union worker. Mishra was born in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, and moved to Britain at the age of 14. “My focus is going to be on housing, public transport and climate change,” he said after being elected.

Gagan Mohindra
Conservative Party politician was elected from South West Hertfordshire in 2019. Born into a Punjabi family in 1978, Mohindra’s parents immigrated to the UK before he was born. His paternal grandfather served in the British Indian Army. He founded the Chromex Group just four years after graduating where he worked till 2015.

Alok Sharma
Sharma is a Conservative MP from Reading West since 2010. He has served as President for COP26 from 2021 to 2022. Born in Agra, UP, Sharma moved to Reading with his parents when he was five-year-old. He took his oath in the House of Commons on the Bhagvad Gita in 2019.

Shailesh Vara
A Conservative Party MP from North West Cambridgeshire since 2005, Vara has served as the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland from July to September 2022. Born in Uganda to Gujarati Indian immigrants in September 1960, Vara moved to Britain with his family in 1964.

Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi
A Labour MP for Slough since 2017, Dhesi was appointed Shadow Minister for the Railways in April 2020. He was born to Sikh Punjabi parents and spent his early years in Chalvey, Slough. His father ran a construction company in the UK. Tanmanjeet received his primary education in Punjab, India.

Suella Braverman
Barrister and politician, Braverman became Home Secretary of the UK in October 2022. She was elected as Conservative Party MP from Fareham. She is the daughter of Uma and Christie Fernandes, both of Indian origin, who migrated to Britain in the 1960s from Mauritius and Kenya, respectively

Virendra Kumar Sharma
A Labour Party MP from Ealing Southall since 2007, Sharma was awarded the Living Legend award at the India-UK Achievers Honours. Born in Punjab in 1947, Sharma received his education at the London School of Economics. He came to Hanwell, Ealing from India in 1968 and worked initially as a bus conductor.

Thangam Dennonaire
Elected from Bristol West in 2015. Thangam is a Labour Party politician, serving as Shadow Leader of the House of Commons since May 2021. She was earlier the Shadow Secretary of State for Housing from 2020 to 2021.

Lord Raminder Singh Ranger
Baron Ranger, CBE, is a British businessman and the founder of Sun Mark and Sea Air & Land Forwarding, an international marketing and distribution company. He is also the Chairman and Managing Director of Sea Air and Land Forwarding

Lord Diljit Singh Rana
Baron Rana OBE, is a British businessman and member of the House of Lords. Having originally been a crossbencher, he took the Conservative whip in 2016. He was married to Shruti, Lady Rana. On June 16, 2004, he was created a life peer as Baron Rana, of Malone in the County of Antrim.

Lord Rajinder Paul Loomba
Baron Loomba, CBE is a philanthropist, founder and Executive Chairman of clothing company Loomba Group, and a member of the House of Lords.

Lord Bhikhu Chotalal Parekh
Baron Parekh, FBA FAcSS FRSA is a British political theorist, academic, and life peer. He is a Labour Party member of the House of Lords.

Lord Karan Faridoon Bilimoria
Baron Bilimoria, CBE, DL, FCA is a British Indian businessman, life peer in the UK House of Lords, and a university chancellor. Bilimoria founded the global beer brand, Cobra Beer, and is the company’s Chairman.

Lord Jitesh Kishorekumar Gadhia
Baron Gadhia is a British investment banker, Conservative Party donor and member of the House of Lords. A member of the Leader’s Group of high-value donors, he was described by The Herald as a member of David Cameron’s “inner circle”.

Lord Navnit Dholakia
Baron Dholakia, OBE, PC, JP, DL, is a British Liberal Democrat politician and a Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats in the House of Lords.

Lord Meghnad Jagdishchandra Desai
Baron Desai is an Indian-born naturalised British economist and former Labour politician. He stood unsuccessfully for the position of Lord Speaker in the House of Lords in 2011. He has been awarded the Padma Bhushan, the third highest civilian award in the Republic of India, in 2008.

Lord Sandip K. Verma
Baroness Verma known until 1977 as Sandip K. Rana, is an Indian-British politician in the UK. An appointed member of the House of Lords, she is Ministerial Champion for Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls Overseas

Lord Ranbir Singh Suri
Baron Suri is a Conservative life peer in the United Kingdom’s House of Lords, nominated in 2014. He is a businessman and formerly the General Secretary of the Board of British Sikhs.

Lord Swraj Paul
Baron Paul, PC, is an Indianborn British business magnate and philanthropist. In 1996 he was appointed a life peer by Conservative Prime Minister John Major, and sits in the House of Lords as a crossbencher with the title Baron Paul, of Marylebone, in the City of Westminster.