Michael Stahel Farmer, Baron Farmer (born 17 December 1944) is a British businessman, former treasurer of the Conservative Party, and life peer in the House of Lords. Early life Farmer was born on 17 December 1944 in Tonbridge, Kent, England. His sister, actress Suzan Farmer, died in September 2017. Michael has described how he and his sister had a violent and chaotic early childhood, characterised by 'poverty, neglect and shame.' His father, David Farmer, a metals trader, 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. He was educated at Wantage Grammar School, as a boarder. 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, which provides mine finance and futures investment opportunities for funds. Political career Farmer 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. 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. His maiden speech was about women's homelessness, domestic violence and social exclusion. 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. 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. The frequency of his speaking appearances, voting record and tabling of written questions is above average in the House of Lords. As a parliamentarian Farmer has spoken about family hubs and other measures to