Who is Swaran Singh? Indian-origin psychiatrist to join House of Lords as UK announces new peerages

Professor Swaran Singh, a distinguished psychiatrist and academic of Indian origin, is set to join the UK's House of Lords following his nomination for a life peerage. The appointment is among a new list of political nominations announced as Prime Minister Keir Starmer prepares to leave Downing Street. Professor Singh, who holds a professorship in Social and Community Psychiatry at the University of Warwick and serves as a consultant psychiatrist, was put forward by the Conservative Party. He is particularly recognized for his leadership of the independent inquiry into discrimination within the Conservative Party, a review famously known as the "Singh Investigation." This inquiry addressed sensitive issues, including allegations of Islamophobia. Singh's career path includes a significant shift from surgery to psychiatry after witnessing the profound impact of violent trauma on young people. Since moving to the UK in 1991, he has dedicated his academic work to researching the influence of ethnicity on mental health, currently directing the University of Warwick's Centre for Mental Health and Wellbeing Research. The list of nominations also includes prominent figures such as London Mayor Sir Sadiq Khan, nominated by Labour leader Keir Starmer, and human rights lawyer Parvais Jabbar. These appointments, totaling 26, are part of a cross-party selection process that was underway before Starmer's recent announcement of his resignation as Labour leader. The peerages will be formally conferred by King Charles III after the nominees complete the necessary vetting procedures.

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Singh, Professor of Social and Community Psychiatry at the University of Warwick and a consultant psychiatrist with the Coventry and Warwickshire Partnership NHS Trust, is among three nominees put forward by the Conservative Party.