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{{Short description|British politician (1934–2024)}}
{{Use British English|date=May 2021}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2021}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific_prefix = [[The Right Honourable]]
| name = The Baroness Flather
| honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|DL}}
| image = Official portrait of Baroness Flather crop 2, 2019.jpg
| alt =
| caption = Official portrait, 2019
| order =
| office1 = Member of the [[House of Lords]]
| status1 = [[Lord Temporal]]
| term_label1 = [[Life peer]]age
| term_start1 = 11 June 1990
| term_end1 = 6 February 2024

| birth_name = Shreela Rai
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1934|2|13|df=y}}
| birth_place =
| death_date = {{Death date and age|2024|2|6|1934|2|13|df=y}}
| death_place =
| death_cause =
| profession = Teacher
| party = [[Crossbencher]] (formerly [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative]])
| partner =
| spouse = {{marriage|[[Gary Flather]]||2017|end=his death}}
| children = [[Paul Flather]]
}}

'''Shreela Flather, Baroness Flather''', {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|DL}} ({{nee|'''Rai'''}}; 13 February 1934 – 6 February 2024) was a British politician, teacher and [[life peer]].

==Politics==
Flather served as a Councillor from 1976 to 1991; as Deputy Mayor and as Mayor for the [[Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead]]; and as a [[Justice of the peace]] from 1971 to 1990.<ref name="OBV">{{cite web|url=http://www.obv.org.uk/our-communities/politicians-and-campaigners/level/profile-level-baroness-flather |title=Profile: On the Level with Baroness Flather |website=[[Operation Black Vote]] |date=13 February 1934 |accessdate=8 September 2019}}</ref> She became a [[life peer]] for the [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative party]] on 11 June 1990 as '''Baroness Flather''', of [[Windsor and Maidenhead]] in the [[Royal County of Berkshire]].<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=52169 |date=14 June 1990 |page=10541}}</ref> She was the first Asian woman to receive a peerage.<ref name="OBV"/> In 1998 she resigned as the Conservative [[whip (politics)|whip]] over the demotion of [[Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 7th Marquess of Salisbury|Viscount Cranborne]] for his actions to reduce the impact of the [[House of Lords Act 1999|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]].<ref name="OBV"/>

Flather attended [[University College London Law Faculty|University College London]].

Flather was also at one time a teacher of [[English as a second language]] 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.<ref>{{cite news|title=Grassroot Diplomat Who's Who |url=http://www.grassrootdiplomat.org/whoswho/ |accessdate=27 April 2015 |work=Grassroot Diplomat |date=15 March 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150520125406/http://www.grassrootdiplomat.org/whoswho/ |archive-date=20 May 2015 }}</ref>

As a member of the [[House of Lords]], she gained attention for wearing a [[sari]] and for being among the first ethnic minorities in the house.

Flather was a distinguished supporter of [[Humanists UK]] and an honorary associate of the [[National Secular Society]]. She was one of the Vice Chairs of the All-Party Parliamentary Humanist Group.<ref>{{cite web|title=All Party Parliamentary Humanist Group|publisher=British Humanist Association|url=http://www.humanism.org.uk/about/apphg|accessdate=3 August 2010}}</ref> She lived in [[Maidenhead]].

Flather was patron of the UK population concern charity, [[Population Matters]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://populationmatters.org/2011/news/baroness-shreela-flather-patron-population-matters/ |title=Baroness Shreela Flather becomes a Patron of Population Matters « Population Matters |accessdate=18 November 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111125175550/http://www.populationmatters.org/2011/news/baroness-shreela-flather-patron-population-matters/ |archive-date=25 November 2011 }}</ref> She had been a board member of [[Marie Stopes]] 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]] and was a stretcher bearer in [[Mesopotamia campaign|Mesopotamia]]. The [[Memorial Gates]] stand on Constitution Hill near [[Hyde Park Corner]].

In September 2011 during a Parliamentary debate on [[welfare spending|welfare]], 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.<ref name="Immigrants have children for benefits, says Asian peer">{{cite news| title=Immigrants have children for benefits, says Asian peer| url = https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-14909062| work=BBC News| date=14 September 2011| accessdate=14 September 2011}}</ref> 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.”<ref name="BBC News">{{Cite news|date=14 September 2011|title=Immigrants have children for benefits, says Asian peer|language=en-GB|work=BBC News|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-14909062|access-date=9 May 2021}}</ref> Her comments were not well-received by the government.<ref name="BBC News"/> 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.”<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sify.com/news/indian-origin-tory-politician-baroness-flather-slammed-for-racist-slur-on-muslims-news-international-ml0lufigjebsi.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924215315/http://www.sify.com/news/indian-origin-tory-politician-baroness-flather-slammed-for-racist-slur-on-muslims-news-international-ml0lufigjebsi.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=24 September 2015 |title=Indian-origin Tory politician Baroness Flather slammed for racist |website=[[Sify]] |accessdate=22 November 2016}}</ref>

Flather made further controversial comments in November 2012, when she defended Conservative election strategist [[Lynton Crosby]], during an incident in which he used an offensive term referring to Muslims at a meeting when he was working for [[Mayor of London]] [[Boris Johnson]].<ref>{{cite news|author=Andrew Sparrow |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2012/nov/18/david-cameron-appoints-lynton-crosby |title=David Cameron appoints Lynton Crosby to run Tory election campaign | Politics |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |accessdate=22 November 2016}}</ref> 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."<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2012/11/25/shreela-flather-lynton-crosby-muslim_n_2187647.html |title=Former Conservative Peer Shreela Flather: Muslims Are All On Benefits And Vote Labour |work=The Huffington Post |date=25 November 2012 |accessdate=22 November 2016}}</ref>

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]],<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Sharma|first1=Santosh Kumar|last2=Kalam|first2=Mir Azad|last3=Ghosh|first3=Saswata|last4=Roy|first4=Subho|date=9 July 2020|title=Prevalence and determinants of consanguineous marriage and its types in India: evidence from the National Family Health Survey, 2015-2016|journal=Journal of Biosocial Science|volume=53 |issue=4 |pages=566–576|doi=10.1017/S0021932020000383|issn=1469-7599|pmid=32641190|s2cid=220438849 }}</ref> were uniquely problematic in the Pakistani community.<ref name="independent.co.uk">{{Cite web|date=8 July 2015|title=Baroness Flather accused over views on marriages in Pakistani|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/baroness-flather-accused-bigotry-over-her-views-marriages-pakistani-community-10373492.html|access-date=9 May 2021|website=The Independent|language=en}}</ref> She also called for a ban of [[Halal]] meats in the UK.<ref name="independent.co.uk"/>

==Family and personal life==
Daughter of [[Rai Bahadur]] Aftab Rai, of New Delhi, India, a barrister and diplomat, and Krishna Rai,<ref>Burke's Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage, 107th edition, vol. 1, ed. Charles Mosley, Burke's Peerage Ltd, 2003, p. 1444</ref> Flather was the great-granddaughter of Sir [[Ganga Ram]],<ref>Bedi, Baba Pyare Lal, ''Harvest from the desert. The life and work of Sir Ganga Ram'', NCA, Lahore 2003 ISBD 969-8623-07-8 (reprint version) pg xvii</ref> a noted engineer, philanthropist and agriculturist during the late 19th century and early 20th century in [[Punjab, British India]] (now Pakistan). She was married to [[Gary Flather|Gary Denis Flather]] until his death in 2017. She had two sons from her first marriage, one of whom is [[Paul Flather]]. The Baroness's niece is [[Kesha Ram]], a member of the [[Vermont General Assembly|Vermont State Senate]].

Flather described herself as a "Hindu atheist". Broadly, she was an [[atheist]] with affinity to the most important sayings from the [[Bhagavad Gita]] and following them.<ref>{{cite news|author=Nigel Morris |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/baroness-flather-accused-of-bigotry-over-her-views-on-marriages-in-pakistani-community-10373492.html |title=Baroness Flather accused of 'bigotry' over her views on marriages in Pakistani community |newspaper=[[The Independent]] |date=7 July 2015 |accessdate=22 November 2016}}</ref> She was an honorary associate of the National Secular Society.<ref>{{cite web|title=National Secular Society Honorary Associates|url=https://secularism.org.uk/honorary-associates.html|website=National Secular Society|accessdate=26 August 2019}}</ref>

Flather died on 6 February 2024, at age 89.<ref>[https://www.oneindia.com/international/shreela-flather-trailblazing-british-indian-peer-passes-away-gen-3745149.html Sathish Raman, "Trailblazing British-Indian Peer Shreela Flather Passes Away at 89"], ''OneIndia'', 6 February 2024. Retrieved 6 February 2024</ref>

==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.

[[File:The President, Smt. Pratibha Devisingh Patil with the Pravasi Bhartiya Samman awardees for 2009, at the 7th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas, in Chennai on January 09, 2009.jpg|thumb|Flather at award ceremony of Pravasi Bharatiya Samman along with President of India, other awardees]]

<ref>{{Cite web|date=10 August 2011|title=Selection Process of Pravasi Bhartiya Samman Award|url=http://pibmumbai.gov.in/scripts/detail.asp?releaseId=E2011PR1283|access-date=16 February 2021|website=pibmumbai.gov.in}}</ref>

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Year!! Country!! Award name!! Given by!! Field of Merit
|-
|2009||{{UK}}||[[Pravasi Bharatiya Samman]]||[[President of India]]||Academics
|-
|}

==Books==
''Woman Acceptable Exploitation For Profit'' (2010) {{ISBN|978-1-84995-002-2}}

==Arms==
{{Infobox COA wide
|escutcheon = ... couped at the shoulders Sable ducally crowned Or and issuant therefrom a long cap the top turned forward Sable.
|supporters = Dexter a bengal tiger Proper sinister a chinese dragon Or armed Gules each resting the interior hind foot on a bezant.
|motto = Dei Tutamen Tutus<ref>{{cite book|title=Debrett's Peerage |date=2019}}</ref>}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{NPG name}}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20061112131306/http://www.hinduismtoday.com/archives/1995/4/1995-4-03.shtml Dharma-Has It Impacted The UK Political Scene?] Hinduism Today - April 1995
*[https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/people/ms-shreela-flather/index.html Hansard records]

{{Authority control}}

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

Shreela Flather, Baroness Flather - Revision history

UPMTaj45723: started initial stub w/ infobox.