Indian-origin former Conservative Party member of Parliament Alok Sharma, who had chosen not to seek re-election in this week's general election, will now take his seat in the House of Lords after being conferred a peerage by King Charles III.
The 56-year-old Agra-born MP, who was knighted as Sir Alok in the King's New Year's Honours list last year for his contribution to tackling climate change through his leadership as president of the COP26 climate summit over two years ago, now becomes Lord Sharma.
Sharma was among seven nominations made by outgoing prime minister Rishi Sunak for his customary Dissolution Peerages, which also saw former Prime Minister Theresa May become a peer in the Upper House of the UK Parliament.
Humbled to have been appointed to the House of Lords but so sorry to see many fine Conservative candidates lose, including in Reading West & Mid Berkshire, said Sharma in a post on X on Friday, as his party's disastrous general election results became evident.
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