THE ASIAN INDEPENDENT UK
Bal Ram Sampla
Geopolitics
There is an old saying — thirty pieces of silver — which has come to mean the worst kind of betrayal: giving up something important for money. When the Conservative Party allowed a suspended donor to pay £50,000 for dinner with its leader Kemi Badenoch, it updated that price for modern times. The money is bigger. But the betrayal is exactly the same.
Lord Rami Ranger is not someone whose past is hidden or hard to find. His record is public, well-documented, and deeply troubling. And yet the Conservative Party, short of money and apparently short of principle, let the auction begin.
A Record That Cannot Be Ignored
I need to be clear about who Rami Ranger is, because it matters when a political party asks ghe public to ignore someone’s behaviour. In January 2023, after the BBC broadcast a documentary critical of India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Ranger wrote to the BBC’s Director General Tim Davie. He demanded to know whether “Pakistani-origin staff” were responsible for what he called “this nonsense.” This was not a fair complaint about journalism. It was an accusation based on race — the suggestion that Pakistani heritage alone made BBC journalists untrustworthy.
He did not stop there. In television interviews, Ranger made further derogatory remarks.These were not angry words spoken in the heat of the moment. They were deliberate, said on camera, and broadcast widely.
Some Sikh members of community received no better treatment. Ranger called members of Sikhs for Justice “enemies of India,”
This led to a court case.
The damage caused by all of this was so serious that in December 2024, the government cancelled Ranger’s CBE — one of Britain’s highest honours. The reason: his offensive comments about Pakistani and Sikhs, and his bullying of a journalist. The Conservative Party had already suspended him in 2023. What makes this especially painful is that his CBE had been awarded for promoting community relations. It was taken away for destroying them.
Readmitted, Rehabilitated — and Welcomed Back to the Table
So what changed? Very little — except the state of the Conservative Party’s finances. Ranger was quietly let back into the party. There was no public reckoning. No conditions were set.
But there was withdrawal of some comments once the pressure grew too great.
Within the party, there is said to be some members who feel uncomfortable. There are Conservatives who understand that allowing Ranger back sends a message about what the party truly values and who it truly represents. Their anger is entirely justified. It has also, so far, changed nothing.
Kemi Badenoch’s Impossible Contradiction
The most uncomfortable part of this story is what it means for Kemi Badenoch herself. She is a Black British woman who has spoken movingly about identity, about belonging, and about what it really means to be part of modern Britain. She has presented herself as someone who genuinely understands minority communities — not as an outsider looking in, but as someone who has lived that experience.
One might ask whether Badenoch truly had a choice. Undoing an auction result once the bid is accepted is not straightforward. But leaders set the tone. They have both the authority and the moral duty to say that some prices are simply too high — that some associations will cost the party far more than they raise. The fact that no such statement has been made speaks volumes.
The Desperately Familiar World of Donor Politics
This is not a problem unique to the Conservatives. British politics has long lived with the uncomfortable truth that large donations buy access, and that access weakens accountability. What is striking here is how brazen it is. Ranger is not someone with a complicated past that requires careful explanation. His behaviour has been publicly condemned, taken to court, and punished by the very government honours system that once celebrated him.
That he can still write a cheque and earn a place at the leader’s table tells us something important about where the Conservative Party truly stands. After its devastating defeat in the 2024 general election, the party faces a serious financial crisis. Donors have moved on. The party needs money urgently. And when organisations become desperate, their principles become flexible. A red line becomes a grey area. A suspension becomes a quiet readmission.
Conclusion: Principles Are Not a Fundraising Target
Parties in opposition always tell themselves the same story: get the money first, sort out the values later. Raise enough to survive, then rebuild properly. The standards a party accepts when times are hard are its real standards. The company it keeps when it is desperate is the company that defines it.
References
1.https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/feb/21/donor-suspended-from-tories-pays-50000-for-dinner-with-kemi-badenoch?CMP=share_btn_url
2.https://www.inkl.com/news/kemi-badenoch-to-relaunch-exclusive-advisory-board-for-high-value-donors
3.https://www.lbc.co.uk/article/tory-peer-who-harassed-and-bullied-journalist-stripped-of-cbe-after-king-orders-5HjcwRj_2/
4.https://www.singaporestar.com/news/274829535/uk-rami-ranger-to-appeal-against-the-crown-stripping-him-of-his-title
