Shreela Flather, Baroness Flather, (; 13 February 1934 – 6 February 2024) was a British politician, teacher and

life peer In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the peerage whose titles cannot be inherited, in contrast to hereditary peers. Life peers are appointed by the monarch on the advice of the prime minister. With the exception of the D ...

Politics

Flather served as a Councillor from 1976 to 1991; as Deputy Mayor and as Mayor for the

Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead The Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead is a unitary authority area with royal borough status in Berkshire, England. The borough is named after its two largest towns of Maidenhead (where the council is based) and Windsor. The borough also i ...

; and as a Justice of the peace from 1971 to 1990. She became a

for the Conservative party on 11 June 1990 as Baroness Flather, of

Windsor and Maidenhead The Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead is a unitary authority area with royal borough status in Berkshire, England. The borough is named after its two largest towns of Maidenhead (where the council is based) and Windsor. The borough also ...

in the

Royal County of Berkshire Berkshire ( ; abbreviated ), officially the Royal County of Berkshire, is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Oxfordshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the north-east, Greater London ...

. She was the first Asian woman to receive a peerage. In 1998 she resigned as the Conservative

whip A whip is a blunt weapon or implement used in a striking motion to create sound or pain. Whips can be used for flagellation against humans or animals to exert control through pain compliance or fear of pain, or be used as an audible cue thro ...

over the demotion of

Viscount Cranborne A viscount ( , for male) or viscountess (, for female) is a title used in certain European countries for a noble of varying status. The status and any domain held by a viscount is a viscounty. In the case of French viscounts, the title is so ...

for his actions to reduce the impact of the 1999 House of Lords Act. She rejoined the party in 1999, but left a second time in 2008, after which point she sat as a

crossbencher A crossbencher is a minor party or independent member of some legislatures, such as the Parliament of Australia. In the British House of Lords the term refers to members of the parliamentary group of non-political peers. They take their name fr ...

. Flather attended

University College London University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...

. Flather was also at one time a teacher of

English as a second language English as a second or foreign language refers to the use of English by individuals whose native language is different, commonly among students learning to speak and write English. Variably known as English as a foreign language (EFL), Engli ...

and a member of the Conservative Women's National Committee. Flather was recognised as Asian of the Year 1996. She had served senior posts in various organisations involved in refugee, community, race relations and prison work. She was also shortlisted for the Grassroot Diplomat Initiative Award in 2015 for her outspoken work on women's rights, and she remains in the directory of the Grassroot Diplomat Who's Who publication. As a member of the

House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...

, she gained attention for wearing a

sari A sari (also called sharee, saree or sadi)The name of the garment in various regional languages include: * * * * * * * * * * * * * * is a drape (cloth) and a women's garment in the Indian subcontinent. It consists of an un-sti ...

and for being among the first ethnic minorities in the house. Flather was a distinguished supporter of

Humanists UK Humanists UK, known from 1967 until May 2017 as the British Humanist Association (BHA), is a charitable organisation which promotes secular humanism and aims to represent Irreligion in the United Kingdom, non-religious people in the UK throug ...

and an honorary associate of the

National Secular Society The National Secular Society (NSS) is a British campaigning organisation that promotes secularism and the separation of church and state. It holds that no one should gain advantage or disadvantage because of their religion or lack of it. The Soc ...

. She was one of the Vice Chairs of the All-Party Parliamentary Humanist Group. She lived in

Maidenhead Maidenhead is a market town in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead in the county of Berkshire, England. It lies on the southwestern bank of the River Thames, which at this point forms the border with Buckinghamshire. In the 2021 Census, ...

. Flather was patron of the UK population concern charity,

Population Matters Population Matters, formerly known as the Optimum Population Trust, is a UK-based charity that works at the intersection of population, environmental sustainability, and human rights, including women's empowerment and leadership, sexual and repr ...

. She had been a board member of

Marie Stopes Marie Charlotte Carmichael Stopes (15 October 1880 – 2 October 1958) was a British author, palaeobotanist and campaigner for Eugenic feminism, eugenics and women's rights. She made significant contributions to plant palaeontology and co ...

for 17 years. Perhaps her most important contribution was to help create a memorial to the volunteers from the Indian Subcontinent, Africa and the Caribbean who fought with the British in two World Wars. These volunteers who number nearly 5 million had all but been forgotten. Her own father volunteered in the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

and was a stretcher bearer in

Mesopotamia Mesopotamia is a historical region of West Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the Fertile Crescent. Today, Mesopotamia is known as present-day Iraq and forms the eastern geographic boundary of ...

. The Memorial Gates stand on Constitution Hill near

Hyde Park Corner Hyde Park Corner is between Knightsbridge, Belgravia and Mayfair in London, England. It primarily refers to a major road junction at the southeastern corner of Hyde Park, that was originally planned by architect Decimus Burton. The juncti ...

. In September 2011 during a Parliamentary debate on

welfare Welfare may refer to: Philosophy *Well-being (happiness, prosperity, or flourishing) of a person or group * Utility in utilitarianism * Value in value theory Economics * Utility, a general term for individual well-being in economics and decision ...

, she singled out Bangladeshi and Pakistani immigrant communities in the United Kingdom and accused them having a large number of children in order to be able to claim welfare benefits. She claimed the issue did not apply to British families of Indian origin as “they are like the Jews of old. They want their children to be educated.” Her comments were not well-received by the government. Labour Party MP Michael Dugher later condemned her and said that her views were “ignorant” and unacceptable - she later admitted that her statement had “gone too far.” Flather made further controversial comments in November 2012, when she defended Conservative election strategist

Lynton Crosby Sir Lynton Keith Crosby (born 23 August 1956)''Who's Who in Australia 2015'', ConnectWeb. is an Australian political strategist who has managed election campaigns for right-of-centre parties in several countries. Crosby has been described as ...

, during an incident in which he used an offensive term referring to Muslims at a meeting when he was working for

Mayor of London The mayor of London is the chief executive of the Greater London Authority. The role was created in 2000 after the Greater London devolution referendum in 1998, and was the first directly elected mayor in the United Kingdom. The current ...

Boris Johnson Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (born 19 June 1964) is a British politician and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022. He wa ...

. She said: "I don’t condone swearing, but Lynton is right to say it is pointless for the Conservatives to chase Muslim votes. They are all on benefits and all vote Labour." In 2015 she again was accused of bigotry for implying that consanguineous marriages, which are common in India and account for up to 23% of marriages in

South India South India, also known as Southern India or Peninsular India, is the southern part of the Deccan Peninsula in India encompassing the states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Telangana as well as the union territories of ...

, were uniquely problematic in the Pakistani community. She also called for a ban of

Halal ''Halal'' (; ) is an Arabic word that translates to in English. Although the term ''halal'' is often associated with Islamic dietary laws, particularly meat that is slaughtered according to Islamic guidelines, it also governs ethical practices ...

meats in the UK.

Family and personal life

Daughter of

Rai Bahadur Rai Bahadur (in North India) and Rao Bahadur (in South India), R.B., was a title of honour bestowed during British rule in India to individuals for outstanding service or acts of public welfare to the Empire. From 1911, the title was accompani ...

Aftab Rai, of New Delhi, India, a barrister and diplomat, and Krishna Rai, Flather was the great-granddaughter of Sir Ganga Ram, a noted engineer, philanthropist and agriculturist during the late 19th century and early 20th century in

Punjab, British India The Punjab Province, officially the Province of the Punjab, was a province of British India, with its capital in Lahore and summer capitals in Murree and Simla. At its greatest extent, it stretched from the Khyber Pass to Delhi; and from the ...

(now Pakistan). She was married to Gary Denis Flather until his death in 2017. She had two sons from her first marriage, one of whom is

Paul Flather Paul Charles Ram Flather (born 28 December 1954) is a British academic. Until 2018 he served as the Secretary-General of the Europaeum, an association of leading European universities, and is Fellow of Mansfield College, Oxford, Mansfield Colle ...

. The Baroness's niece is Kesha Ram, a member of the

Vermont State Senate The Vermont Senate is the upper house of the Vermont General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Vermont. The senate consists of 30 members elected from multi-member districts. Each senator represents at least 20,300 citizens. ...

. Flather described herself as a "Hindu atheist". Broadly, she was an

atheist Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...

with affinity to the most important sayings from the

Bhagavad Gita The Bhagavad Gita (; ), often referred to as the Gita (), is a Hindu texts, Hindu scripture, dated to the second or first century BCE, which forms part of the Hindu epic, epic poem Mahabharata. The Gita is a synthesis of various strands of Ind ...

and following them. She was an honorary associate of the National Secular Society. Flather died on 6 February 2024, at age 89.

Honours and awards

Honorary Doctor of Laws Leeds University, and Honorary Doctor of The Open University and Northampton University. Also Fellow of University College London.

Books

''Woman Acceptable Exploitation For Profit'' (2010)

Arms

References

External links

*
Dharma-Has It Impacted The UK Political Scene?
Hinduism Today - April 1995

{{DEFAULTSORT:Flather, Baroness Flather, Shreela 1934 births 2024 deaths Alumni of University College London British people of Indian descent British people of Punjabi descent British Hindus British atheists British humanists British critics of religions Conservative Party (UK) councillors Conservative Party (UK) life peers Conservative Party (UK) mayors Councillors in Berkshire Crossbench life peers Deputy lieutenants of Berkshire English justices of the peace Life peeresses created by Elizabeth II Life peers created by Elizabeth II Mayors of places in Berkshire Politicians from Windsor, Berkshire Recipients of Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Women councillors in England Women mayors of places in England Alumni of the UCL Faculty of Laws