Background
Michael Stahel Farmer was born on 17 December 1944 in Tonbridge, Kent, England.
Michael Stahel Farmer was born on 17 December 1944 in Tonbridge, Kent, England.
He has a sister, Suzan Farmer, who is an actress. He is known in the commodities world as "Mr Copper" for his long term involvement with the world copper market. Red Kite manages $2.3bn of assets as of the end of 2013 and is one of the largest commodities hedge funds in the world.
He serves on the Board of Trustees of the Kingham Hill Trust.
He has donated more than £6.5m to the Conservative Party. In August 2014 he was nominated to become a working peer in the House of Lords.
On 5 September 2014 he was created a life peer as Baron Farmer, of Bishopsgate in the City of London. He has spoken extensively on social mobility and social issues.
In November 2015, he contributed to a House of Lords debate on the impact of pornography by noting that "greater numbers of..teenage girls..in a leafy suburb of Surrey.. suffering from after effects of frequent anal sex, like incontinence".
In January 2016 Farmer was subject to controversy when he described the £300 daily allowance for Members of the House of Lords as "inadequate".