(June 13, 1941 – September 22, 2022)
Lord Sheikh, the first Conservative Muslim member of the House of Lords, passed away on September 22 at 81. Among the many hats he wore, he was a successful businessman, philanthropist, and writer.
Born in Kenya on June 13, 1941, Mohamed Iltaf Sheikh was brought up in Uganda, where he lived until he and his family were among up to 80,000 Asians expelled to the UK and elsewhere 50 years ago by the country’s dictator, Idi Amin. His ancestors were from Punjab, India.
The octogenarian often recounted his family arriving in the UK “penniless” despite his father, Mohamed Abdullah Sheikh, being a wealthy businessman. Everything was taken from the thousands deported, but what he learned from the experience was to “use our brains, to use our initiative, work hard,” he would say.
After joining Sun Alliance as a trainee broker and taking his qualifications at Holborn and City of London colleges, Lord Sheikh started working for an insurance broking organisation called Camberford Law. He ended up owning it before transforming it into a public company that supplied risk facilities for 1,800 brokers. It won a dozen major awards over three years.
It was in 2006 that he was elevated to the House of Lords and took the full title of Baron Sheikh of Cornhill in the City of London to reflect his long-standing business connections. He travelled extensively overseas and visited several countries to expand trade between them and the UK.
Lord Sheikh was also the patron of numerous Muslim and non-Muslim organisations and was actively involved in strengthening community relations between various racial and religious groups. In the Lords, he founded and co-chaired many All-Party Parliamentary Groups (APPG), including for Islamic and Ethical Finance, which he also promoted internationally.
Other APPGs he was active in were Turkey and the Prevention of Genocide and Crimes against Humanity, as well as being Vice-Chair of parliamentary groups in Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Kazakhstan, and Tajikistan.
As the first Muslim Conservative peer, Lord Sheikh will be remembered for his tremendous role in strengthening relations between his party and the British Muslim community. Having set up the Conservative Muslim Forum, he was a pioneer in helping the party engage with British Muslims.
In recent years, his expertise and guidance have been instrumental in supporting the party in tackling accusations of Islamophobia. This included rebuking Boris Johnson for his notorious offensive comments in 2018 that compared women in burqas to letterboxes and called for the whip to be withdrawn from the London MP.
Throughout his life, he advocated and promoted the party’s shared values with the Muslim community of; family, hard work, compassion, sacrifice and opportunity. His coat of arms signifies the importance of education and gives a message that Islam is a religion of peace.
As a founding member and chair of the National Muslim War Memorial Trust, Lord Sheikh’s legacy also included ensuring that the role of Muslim soldiers as part of the British Empire during the two world wars and in conflicts since, is not forgotten.
Praise also came from Lord Popat, who was also expelled from Uganda, saying that “as a Hindu Member of the House of Lords, I admired his efforts in community cohesion and his work to ensure we can all practise our religions freely.”
“It was thanks to his help the party was able to host its first-ever Iftar reception at Conservative Campaign Headquarters this year, reflecting the sheer strides we have made in our engagement with the community. Given the success of the Iftar reception, I hope it will be made an annual event, which will be a fitting tribute to Lord Sheikh’s memory,” Popat told Politics Home newsletter.
As a writer, the late Muslim peer authored two books: An Indian in the House, about the first four Indians who were members of the British Parliament, which he recently promoted; and Emperor of the Five Rivers, about Ranjit Singh, the first Maharaja of the Sikh Empire. He was also completing a third, described as a historical novel.
Tributes have been far and wide, including from Ümit Yalçın, Turkey’s Ambassador to London, who described his sad demise as a “huge loss in terms of his selfless contributions and service to the values he upheld.”
“Lord Sheikh’s valuable efforts for Turkey-UK relations, as well as his parliamentary work on ethical and humanitarian values, will live on as his legacy. Beyond his devotion to the friendly ties between our nations, Lord Sheikh was a kind and dear friend whose void cannot be easily filled,” Yalcin said.
His humanitarian work included founding the Sheikh Abdullah Foundation charity, named after his father, and
patronage of the Orphans in Need charity. In 2021, his name was added to the Indiaspora Government Leaders List, which recognises 200 government leaders of Indian heritage in 15 countries.
His loss will be felt by so many lives he touched through his work in business, academia, and philanthropy, as well as his writing.
Hamed Chapman
