Lord Popat is a Conservative Peer and Party Whip and was appointed as the Prime Minister’s Trade Envoy to Rwanda and Uganda in January 2016. In September Prime Minister Boris Johnson extended Lord Popat’s Trade Envoy brief to include Democratic Republic of Congo. He became a Member of the House of Lords back in July 2010 and is the first Gujarati to represent the Conservative Party in the House of Lords. From January 2013 to March 2015 Lord Popat served as a Minister of the Crown for the Departments of Business, Innovation and Skills, and Transport, as well as a Lord-in-Waiting and a member of Her Majesty’s Household
After completing his studies, Lord Popat held a number of positions, including trainee accountant at Rockware Glass, and UDT Finance (Barclays). After practising as an accountant in the late 1970s, Lord Popat specialised in business and corporate finance. He remains an Affiliate Member of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants. Lord Popat diversified into the healthcare sector in the late 1980s and the hospitality sector in the late 1990s, and secured a master franchise with the Intercontinental Hotels Group for Express by Holiday Inn. He is a founding Director of St Luke’s Hospice, Harrow. Lord Popat founded and funds a registered charity, the Lord Dolar Popat Foundation.
Lord Popat sponsored himself through night school at Kilburn Polytechnic by taking jobs including working as a dishwasher, waiter, and grill chef at a Wimpey Bar on Kilburn High Street. He is a long suffering supporter of Tottenham Hotspur Football Club. Last year, Lord Popat published his award winning book “A British Subject” with a foreword from David Cameron which outlines his journey from Uganda – where he was expelled from by the brutal dictator Idi Amin – through to establishing himself in business and politics.