Swraj Paul is an Indian-born, British-based business magnate, philanthropist, and Labour politician. In 1996 he became a life peer, sitting in the House of Lords as a Labour member with the title Baron Paul, of Marylebone in the City of Westminster. In December 2008 he was appointed deputy speaker of the Lords; in October 2009 he was appointed to the Privy Council.
Background
According to his official biography, Swraj Paul was born in Jalandhar, Punjab in 1931. His father ran a small foundry, making steel buckets and farming equipment. Paul was educated at Forman Christian College in Lahore and later obtained a master's degree in mechanical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the USA.