Bharat Pankhania
Bharat Pankhania | |
|---|---|
| Mayor of Bath | |
| In office 7 June 2025 – 30 March 2026 | |
| Member of Bath and North East Somerset Council for Combe Down | |
| Assumed office 2 May 2019 | |
| Preceded by | Cherry Beath |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Bharat Ramji Nathoo Pankhania October 1960 (age 65–66) Kenya |
| Political party | Independent (2026–present) |
| Occupation | Physician, academic, politician |
| Known for | Public health medicine; Mayor of Bath (2025–2026) |
Bharat Ramji Nathoo Pankhania (born October 1960)[1] is a British physician, academic and politician who served as Mayor of Bath from 2025 to 2026.
Dr. Bharat Pankhania was born in Kenya to an Indian family from Gujarat. When Pankhania was 14, the family immigrated to Leicester, England.[2] Bharat moved to Bath, Somerset in 1991, and to Combe Down in 2008.[3]
Pankhania qualified from the Welsh Nation Schools of Medicine, Cardiff, Wales and trained as a General Practitioner in 1989. He trained in Public Health Medicine and specialised in infectious diseases and Communicable Disease Control and worked in the field in the UK.[3][4] In 2020, and during the COVID-19 pandemic, he became known as a public-health commentator on public health issues including infection control and vaccination policy[5][6][7] and also published academic scholarship in this regard.[8] He joined the University of Exeter Medical School in 2017 and served as a senior clinical lecturer until 2026,[9] leaving following the social media posts controversy regarding the 2026 Hatzola arson attack.[10] In 2022, Pankhania was appointed Director of the Bath Royal Literary and scientific institution trustees.[1]
Pankhania was elected as a Liberal Democrat councillor for Combe Down ward on Bath and North East Somerset Council in the 2019 local elections.[11] He was re-elected in 2023,[12] and served as Deputy Mayor before being elected as the 798th Mayor of Bath, Somerset[13] on 7 June 2025 by the city's charter trustees. He was the first person of Indian heritage to hold the office.[2][14] He served as Mayor of Bath from June 2025 to March 2026.[15] His theme for the year was 'Education is Empowerment'.[9]
In late March 2026, shortly after the arson attach of four ambulances operated by the Jewish volunteer emergency service Hatzola in Golders Green, London, Pankhania shared posts on his personal X account, describing the attack that is being treated as an antisemitic hate crime by the Metropolitan Police,[16] as an 'Israeli false flag operation'. Other posts Pankhania later shared called the attack insurance fraud. Pankhania was subsequently suspended[17] from the Bath and North East Somerset (Banes) council by the Liberal Democrat party and was set to take training in “equalities and social media conduct” following the retweets.[18] Pankhania later resigned from both his party and the mayorship. He was the first Bath mayor to resign since 1937.[15][18][19] Pankhania subsequently apologised for the posts[15][20] and deleted them.[10][17]
As of June 2026, he remains an independent councillor on the Bath and North East Somerset Council.[10][18]
Pankhania is married to Alison[13] and they share two children.[3]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Bharat PANKHANIA personal appointments". GOV.UK. Retrieved 2026-06-08.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Ceremony held to welcome Bath's 798th Mayor". Bath Echo. 12 June 2025.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Robinson, Maria (2024-10-02). "Portrait of Bath: Dr. Bharat Pankhania". The Bath Magazine. Retrieved 2026-06-08.
- ↑ "Principles of Health Protection - Meet the Team". Exeter Medical School. Retrieved 2026-06-08.
- ↑ Collier, Emma (31 March 2020). "Frontline NHS staff across South West hospitals 'frightened' over lack of protective equipment, says former health boss". ITV News.
- ↑ Cook, Joe (14 February 2021). "Talk of opening pubs in April is premature, health expert warns". LBC.
- ↑ "Covid-19: After Lockdown, with Dr. Bharat Pankhania". Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution. Retrieved 2026-06-08.
- ↑ Osama, Tasnime; Pankhania, Bharat; Majeed, Azeem (2020-05-01). "Protecting older people from COVID-19: should the United Kingdom start at age 60?". Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine. 113 (5): 169–170. doi:10.1177/0141076820921107. ISSN 1758-1095. PMC 7366331 Check
|pmc=value (help). PMID 32315559 Check|pmid=value (help). - ↑ 9.0 9.1 "New Mayor of Bath Professor Bharat Pankhania visits campus". University of Bath. 11 July 2025.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 Sinclair, Annabel. "Bath mayor leaves University of Exeter after antisemitic conspiracy row". Jewish News. Retrieved 2026-06-08.
- ↑ "Election results by Wards,2 May 2019". democracy.bathnes.gov.uk. 2019-05-02. Retrieved 2026-06-08.
- ↑ "Councillor details - Councillor Bharat Pankhania". democracy.bathnes.gov.uk. 2026-06-08. Retrieved 2026-06-08.
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 "New Mayor & Deputy Mayor of the City Of Bath". Bath Abbey. 2025-06-05. Retrieved 2026-06-08.
- ↑ "History-making Mayor of Bath says diversity is our strength". Yahoo News UK. 11 June 2025.
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 Grierson, Jamie (2026-03-31). "Mayor of Bath resigns after posts suggesting London ambulance fires were Israeli 'false flag'". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2026-05-18.
- ↑ "Investigation launched after arson attack on ambulances in Golders Green". Metropolitan Police. 23 March 2026. Retrieved 2026-06-08.
- ↑ 17.0 17.1 Hayhurst, Claire; Minchin, Rod (1 April 2026). "Mayor of Bath resigns over social media posts". The Independent.
- ↑ 18.0 18.1 18.2 John Wimperis, Local Democracy Reporting Service. "Mayor of Bath resigns over retweet row". Hits Radio (West of England). Retrieved 2026-06-05.
- ↑ "Bath mayor resigns after sharing posts claiming Jewish ambulance arson was false flag". The latest National and International News - upday News. 2026-03-31. Retrieved 2026-06-05.
- ↑ Davison, Tamara (2026-03-26). "Mayor apologises for post over north London ambulance attack". The Standard. Retrieved 2026-05-18.
This article "Bharat Pankhania" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Bharat Pankhania. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.
- 1960 births
- British people of Indian descent
- Kenyan emigrants to the United Kingdom
- British public health doctors
- Academics of the University of Exeter
- Alumni of Cardiff University
- Mayors of Bath, Somerset
- Liberal Democrats (UK) councillors
- Independent politicians in England
- British epidemiologists
- Councillors in Somerset
- People from Leicester
