Stuart Polak

Stuart Polak, Baron Polak (born 28 March 1961)

Early life Stuart Polak was born in Liverpool, England. He attended the Childwall Hebrew Congregation, a synagogue in Liverpool, where he was a chazan, or cantor, during the Jewish High Holidays.

Polak was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for political service in the 2015 New Year Honours. He was created a life peer taking the title Baron Polak, of Hertsmere in the County of Hertfordshire on 2 October 2015.

Resignation of Priti Patel On 3 November 2017, the BBC's Diplomatic correspondent James Landale reported that Polak had accompanied Priti Patel, the Secretary of State for International Development, when she had held a series of meetings in Israel in August 2017 without telling the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. They met Yair Lapid, the leader of Israel's centrist Yesh Atid party, and visited several organisations where official departmental business was discussed. Those meetings, and others later, led to Patel's resignation from the Cabinet on 8 November 2017.

Criticism In 2021, former Foreign Minister Sir Alan Duncan published his diaries, in which Polak featured as a frequent opponent of his fellow Conservative Duncan, allegedly operating in tandem with CFI colleague Eric Pickles to ensure the pro-Palestinian Duncan did not acquire certain governmental positions.

In April 2024, Polak was accused of serving the political interests of Israel instead of the interests of his own country. Duncan said of Polak: "In my view, I think he should be removed from the Lords because he is exercising the interests of another country, not that of the parliament in which he sits". The Conservative Party launched an investigation into Duncan, despite having no formal complaint, but found no wrongdoing, and cleared him in July 2024.