Michael Farmer, Baron Farmer

Michael Stahel Farmer, Baron Farmer (born 17 December 1944) is a British businessman, philanthropist, former treasurer of the Conservative Party, and life peer in the House of Lords.

The Right Honourable

The Lord Farmer
Member of the House of Lords
Lord Temporal
Assumed office
5 September 2014
Life Peerage
Personal details
Born
Michael Stahel Farmer

17 December 1944 (1944-12-17) (age 75)
Tonbridge, Kent, England
Children3
RelativesSuzan Farmer (sister)
Candace Owens (daughter-in-law)
OccupationBusinessman, politician

Early life

Farmer was born on 17 December 1944 in Tonbridge, Kent, England. His sister, actress Suzan Farmer, died in September 2017.[1] Michael has described how he and his sister had a violent and chaotic early childhood, characterised by 'poverty, neglect and shame.' His father died due to his alcoholism when he was aged four, while they narrowly avoided being removed from their mother's care due to her own struggle with alcohol.[2]

He was educated at Wantage Grammar School, as a boarder.[3]

Business career

Farmer started work at eighteen. He began as a difference account clerk and messenger in a London Metal Exchange member firm, earning eight pounds a week, and spent most of his career in the City of London, involved in the trading of base metals, especially copper.

By the late 1980s, Farmer headed the global base metal trading at Phibro Salomon Brothers and in 1999 his trading company, the Metal & Commodity Company Ltd, was floated on the London Stock Exchange under the title MG Plc. He was subsequently a founding partner of the Red Kite Group of hedge funds,[3] which provides mine finance and futures investment opportunities for funds.

Political career

A donor to the Conservative Party since 2001, Farmer became politically active in 2006 and championed the need for a comprehensive government strategy to strengthen families and reduce family breakdown. He supported the former leader, David Cameron when he accepted the Centre for Social Justice's Breakthrough Britain report emphasising the wider social repercussions of family breakdown.[4] [5]

On 5 September 2014 Farmer was created a life peer as Baron Farmer of Bishopsgate in the City of London and in the House of Lords joined the Conservative benches.[6][7]

At this point, Farmer hired Dr Samantha Callan, former Associate Director at the Centre for Social Justice and author of work on family breakdown, as his Parliamentary Adviser. This enabled him to work with government to develop effective policies to strengthen families. His maiden speech was about women's homelessness, domestic violence and social exclusion.[2]

He is also a vocal supporter of welfare and prison reform, and was commissioned by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) to carry out a review of how supporting men in prison to have better family and other relationships can reduce reoffending rates.[8] Following its acceptance of his recommendations, the MoJ commissioned a further review from Lord Farmer on the importance of relationships for female offenders' rehabilitation, which is also being implemented.[9]

The frequency of his speaking appearances, voting record and tabling of written questions is above average in the House of Lords.[10]

As a parliamentarian Farmer has spoken about family hubs and other measures to ensure families who need it receive early help;[11][12][13] boosting statutory help for children leaving local authority care;[14] [15] [16] improving children and young people's mental health and wellbeing,[17][18][19] including by reducing family breakdown and regulating access to pornography;[20] enabling upwards social mobility and better life chances;[21][22][23]and addressing the persecution of Christians in North Korea,[24] the Middle East [25][26] and the United Kingdom.[27]

He has introduced a Private Member's Bill which would make family impact assessments statutory for all changes to government policy and spending and that would ensure the Government keeps track of family stability rates (the number of children who grow up with both their parents).[28]

He has also been an active and vocal supporter of Brexit.[29][30][31][32][33]

He was a member of the Select Committee on Social Mobility[34] and the Joint Committee on the Draft Domestic Abuse Bill.[35]

He is a Board Member of the Conservative Foundation.

Personal life

Farmer became a Christian at the age of 35. Subsequently he has become a frequent public speaker, particularly to other professionals, on how to navigate the tensions of being a Christian working in City markets. In 1975, in the City of London, he married Jennifer Potts.[36] They have three adult children. One son, George Farmer, is married to the American conservative commentator Candace Owens.

Farmer was a trustee of Kingham Hill Trust from 2001 to 2014 and a Council Member of Oakhill Theological College over the same period. He is a founding sponsor for ARK All Saints Church of England Academy in Camberwell and, in 2008, he established the Cross Trust, a philanthropic fund which advances education nationally and internationally.[37]

He became the Christian deputy chair of the Council for Christians and Jews in 2016.[38]

He has supported Chelsea Football Club since the late 1960s and is a fan of test cricket.

gollark: Where are the actual incentives in anarchism? It seems that you basically just expect people to embark on giant construction projects and give resources out of the goodness of their hearts or something. In capitalism you actually have a decent direct reason to do that - your company can make more profit if it makes a new silicon fab or something, so you'll get money yourself, and you can get resources from other companies because you both get benefits for trading that way.
gollark: Well, that's just wrong.
gollark: You could do a *bit* of poor-people-saving.
gollark: You could... profit off the crash, trying to mostly take rich people's money, and then donate your newly obtained wealth to the poor?
gollark: If you actually believe that, you could make money off it when it happens.

References
  1. Suzan Farmer obituary The Guardian, 24 October 2017. Retrieved 27 October 2017.
  2. "Lord Farmer maiden speech, House of Lords". Parliament of the United Kingdom. 6 November 2014. Retrieved 19 July 2017.
  3. ”Farmer, Baron, (Michael Stahel Farmer) (born Dec. 1944)“ in Who's Who, online edition, accessed 4 June 2020 (subscription required)
  4. "Breakdown Britain: Fractured Families". The Centre for Social Justice. December 2016. Retrieved 28 August 2019.
  5. "Breakthrough Britain: Family Breakdown". The Centre for Social Justice. July 2007. Retrieved 28 August 2019.
  6. "No. 60986". The London Gazette. 11 September 2014. p. 17674.
  7. "Parliamentary page for Lord Farmer". Parliament of the United Kingdom. Retrieved 19 July 2017.
  8. "The Importance of Strengthening Prisoners' Family Ties to Prevent Reoffending and Reduce Intergenerational Crime" (PDF). Ministry of Justice. August 2017. Retrieved 28 August 2019.
  9. "The Importance of Strengthening Female Offenders' Family and other Relationships to Prevent Reoffending and Reduce Intergenerational Crime" (PDF). Ministry of Justice. June 2019. Retrieved 28 August 2019.
  10. "Lord Farmer Numerology in Parliament". TheyWorkForYou. Retrieved 19 July 2017.
  11. "Early Years Intervention, House of Lords". Parliament of the United Kingdom. 8 January 2015. Retrieved 28 August 2019.
  12. "Welfare Reform and Work Bill, House of Lords". Parliament of the United Kingdom. 21 December 2015. Retrieved 28 August 2019.
  13. "A Manifesto to Strengthen Families, House of Lords". Parliament of the United Kingdom. 2 November 2017. Retrieved 28 August 2019.
  14. "Young Care Leavers, House of Lords". Parliament of the United Kingdom. 12 March 2015. Retrieved 28 August 2019.
  15. "Children and Social Work Bill, House of Lords". Parliament of the United Kingdom. 14 June 2016. Retrieved 28 August 2019.
  16. "Children: Welfare, Life Chances and Social Mobility, House of Lords". Parliament of the United Kingdom. 1 November 2018. Retrieved 28 August 2019.
  17. "Mental Health, House of Lords". Parliament of the United Kingdom. 15 January 2015. Retrieved 28 August 2019.
  18. "Queen's Speech, House of Lords". Parliament of the United Kingdom. 4 June 2015. Retrieved 28 August 2019.
  19. "Mental Health of Children and Young Adults, House of Lords". Parliament of the United Kingdom. 16 May 2019. Retrieved 28 August 2019.
  20. "Pornography, House of Lords". Parliament of the United Kingdom. 5 November 2015. Retrieved 28 August 2019.
  21. "Life Chances Strategy, House of Lords". Parliament of the United Kingdom. 11 May 2016. Retrieved 28 August 2019.
  22. "Poverty: Metrics, House of Lords". Parliament of the United Kingdom. 21 January 2019. Retrieved 28 August 2019.
  23. "Child Poverty Act 2010 (Persistent Poverty Target) Regulations 2014, House of Lords". Parliament of the United Kingdom. 25 November 2014. Retrieved 28 August 2019.
  24. "Korean Peninsula, House of Lords". Parliament of the United Kingdom. 13 July 2017. Retrieved 28 August 2019.
  25. "Palestine: Recognition, House of Lords". Parliament of the United Kingdom. 29 January 2015. Retrieved 28 August 2019.
  26. "Immigration Bill, House of Lords". Parliament of the United Kingdom. 21 March 2016. Retrieved 28 August 2019.
  27. "Religious Persecution, House of Lords". Parliament of the United Kingdom. 11 July 2019. Retrieved 28 August 2019.
  28. "Family Relationships (Impact Assessment and Targets) Bill [HL] 2017–19 – UK Parliament". Parliament of the United Kingdom. Retrieved 19 July 2017.
  29. "Lord Farmer: A Brexit will be a 'bright new beginning'". The Telegraph. 15 May 2016. Retrieved 28 August 2019.
  30. "Brexit: Domestic and International, House of Lords". Parliament of the United Kingdom. 27 October 2016. Retrieved 28 August 2019.
  31. "Brexit: Preparations and Negotiations, House of Lords". Parliament of the United Kingdom. 23 July 2018. Retrieved 28 August 2019.
  32. "Don't blame Brexit for UK economic wobbles, says 'Mr Copper'". Financial Times. 15 January 2019. Retrieved 28 August 2019.
  33. "Further Discussions with the European Union under Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union, House of Lords". Parliament of the United Kingdom. 27 February 2019. Retrieved 28 August 2019.
  34. "Social Mobility Committee - Membership". UK Parliament. June 2015. Retrieved 28 August 2019.
  35. "New appointments this week in UK politics, the civil service and public affairs". PoliticsHome. 11 March 2019. Retrieved 14 March 2019.
  36. ”FARMER Michael S. / POTTS / London City 14 643”; ”POTTS Jennifer D. R. / Farmer / London City 14 643” in General Index to Marriages in England and Wales, 1975
  37. "The Cross Trust, Charity Commission". Retrieved 19 July 2017.
  38. "Patron & Trustees". Council of Christians and Jews. Retrieved 24 September 2019.
Orders of precedence in the United Kingdom
Preceded by
The Lord Richards of Herstmonceux		 Gentlemen
Baron Farmer 		Followed by
The Lord Fox
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