Shriti Vadera, Baroness Vadera

Shriti Vadera, Baroness Vadera, was born in 1962 in Uganda into a family of Indian origin and of the Lohana tribe of the Kshatriya caste. Her family owned a small tea plantation but fled to India in 1972 following the Ugandan government's expulsion of Ugandan Asians, and then later to the UK. Shriti was educated privately and at Oxford University. [1]

She is a UK government minister, former advisor and former UBS Warburg investment banker. From April 1999 to June 2007 she was an adviser to Gordon Brown during his time as Chancellor of the Exchequer and a member of the Treasury's Council of Economic Advisers. Brown appointed her as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State in the Department for International Development on 29 June 2007. Lady Vadera was appointed Parliamentary under Secretary of State for the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform in the January 2008 reshuffle. In October 2008, in addition to her existing role, she also became a Parliamentary Under Secretary in the Cabinet Office. In the June 2009 reshuffle she was reappointed to the same role, although now serving in the new Department for Business, Innovation and Skills alongside her Cabinet Office role.

Private sector career

For over 14 years Vadera was employed at investment bank UBS. She worked in the firm's banking, project finance, sovereign advisory and privatisation teams and, shortly before her move to the Treasury, was responsible for developing its business with the South African Government and the public sector.

Public sector career

Following his appointment as Prime Minister, Gordon Brown appointed her as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State in the Department for International Development.[2] As a Minister, she had to go into Parliament, and, lacking a seat in the House of Commons, she was created a life peer on 11 July 2007 as Baroness Vadera. She took her seat in the House of Lords that same day. The Sunday Times reported that the Cabinet Secretary "flatly refus[ed] to allow her to cross the threshold of No 10 as policy enforcer" and "no Permanent Secretary could stand her" - although the Cabinet Secretary denied making these comments. After six months at DFID she was moved to the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform.

On 14 January 2009 she gave an interview on ITV's Lunchtime News, which concluded:

Alastair Stewart: "Final and briefest thought possible – you're a former banker and business person yourself and now a minister – when will we see the Green shoots of recovery?

Baroness Vadera: "Well, it's a very uncertain world right now globally but I wouldn't want to be the one predicting it. I am seeing a few green shoots but it's a little bit too early to say exactly how they'll grow."

This was considered a gaffe largely because the phrase "green shoots" was notorious after being coined by Norman Lamont in 1991.

External links

• Gordon Brown appoints Shriti Vadera to key ministerial post, The Times of India