The honour was bestowed on the prominent businessman by British prime minister Theresa May during a ceremony whereby the prime minister awarded peerages, knighthoods, and other honours to British citizens.
According to a report in Dawn, the honours were granted by the Queen of the United Kingdom at the outgoing prime minister’s request.
Mr Choudrey, who is the CEO of Bestway Group, called the award an immense honour and said that he was truly humbled to have been appointed to the House of Lords. He said, “I have always viewed the UK to be the land of opportunity and I look forward to contributing to the continued advancement of our great country.”
Bestway Group is a wholesale empire with a turnover of £3.5 billion and a workforce numbering around 34,000. Choudrey is also the chairman of Conservative Friends of Pakistan (CFOP), an organisation that aims to build ties between the United Kingdom’s Conservative Party with Pakistan and British Pakistanis.
In the UK, the Life Peerages Act 1958 entitles people to be appointed as life peers to seats in the House of Lords.
This is not Choudrey’s first award. In 2016, he was awarded the Commander of the Order of the British Empire by the Queen.
According to a statement on the award, Choudrey has been described as someone with ‘humble beginnings in a remote village in Pakistan’, and also details that the appointment was a recognition of his contribution to Britain’s domestic and foreign trade along with his philanthropic work. The eminent businessman hails from Gujar Khan in Rawalpindi.