Paul Yaw Boateng, Baron Boateng (born 14 June 1951) is a British Labour Party politician, who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for

Brent South Brent South was a constituency for the House of Commons of the UK Parliament; the areas of the constituency chiefly fell into the new Brent Central for the 2010 general election which was the date of its abolition. It elected one member (MP) by ...

from

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, k ...

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

, becoming the UK's first Black

Cabinet Minister A minister is a politician who heads a ministry, making and implementing decisions on policies in conjunction with the other ministers. In some jurisdictions the head of government is also a minister and is designated the ‘prime minister’, � ...

in May 2002, when he was appointed as Chief Secretary to the Treasury. Following his departure from the House of Commons, he served as the

British High Commissioner to South Africa The British High Commissioner to South Africa is the head of the United Kingdom's diplomatic mission in the Republic of South Africa. As fellow members of the Commonwealth of Nations, the United Kingdom and South Africa exchange High Commissione ...

from March 2005 to May 2009. He was introduced as a member of the House of Lords on 1 July 2010.

Background and early life

Boateng was born in Hackney, London, of mixed Ghanaian and

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

heritage; his family later moved to Ghana when Boateng was four years old. His father, Kwaku Boateng, was a lawyer and Cabinet Minister during

Kwame Nkrumah Kwame Nkrumah (born 21 September 190927 April 1972) was a Ghanaian politician, political theorist, and revolutionary. He was the first Prime Minister and President of Ghana, having led the Gold Coast to independence from Britain in 1957. An in ...

's regime. Boateng attended Ghana International School and the

Accra Academy Accra Academy is a Non-denominational Christianity, non-denominational Day School, day and Boarding School, boarding Single-sex education, boys' school. It is located at Bubuashie near Kaneshie in the Greater Accra Region. The school was establishe ...

, a high school in Ghana. Boateng's life in Ghana came to an abrupt end after his father went to jail in 1966 following a military coup, which toppled the Ghanaian government. His father was imprisoned without trial for four years. Boateng, then aged 15, and his sister, Rosemary, fled to the UK with their mother. They settled in Hemel Hempstead, where he attended

Apsley Grammar School Apsley may refer to: Places * Apsley, Hertfordshire, a suburb of Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, England ** Apsley railway station * Apsley, Ontario, a community in North Kawartha, Ontario, Canada * Apsley, Tasmania, a locality in Tasmania, Aus ...

. He later read law at the University of Bristol where he resided at

Wills Hall Wills Hall is one of more than twenty halls of residence in the University of Bristol. It is located high on the Stoke Bishop site on the edge of the Bristol Downs, and houses c. 370 students in two quadrangles. Almost all of these student ...

and was a member of the Barneys Club. He began his career in civil rights, originally as a

solicitor A solicitor is a legal practitioner who traditionally deals with most of the legal matters in some jurisdictions. A person must have legally-defined qualifications, which vary from one jurisdiction to another, to be described as a solicitor and ...

, though he later retrained as a

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include taking cases in superior courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, researching law and ...

. He worked primarily on social and community cases, starting under renowned civil rights advocate

Benedict Birnberg Benedict Michael Birnberg (born 1930) is a British solicitor and radical campaigner for human rights. Until his retirement in 1999, Birnberg was senior partner in the eponymous firm he founded in 1962, and he is considered a pioneer fighter again ...

, involving women's rights, housing and police complaints, including a period from 1977 to 1981 as the legal advisor for the Scrap Sus Campaign. Boateng was also an executive member of the

National Council for Civil Liberties Liberty, formerly, and still formally, called the National Council for Civil Liberties (NCCL), is an advocacy group and membership organisation based in the United Kingdom, which challenges unjust laws, protects civil liberties and promotes hu ...

. He represented Cherry Groce, a mother of six who was shot and paralysed by a police officer during a raid on her home, in search for her son. He became a partner at the firm B. M. Birnberg & Co., and as a barrister, he practised at Eight

King's Bench Walk King's Bench Walk is a street in Temple, London, Temple, in the City of London. It is mainly made up of barristers' chambers. History King's Bench Walk is located in the Inner Temple, one of the four Inns of Court. The other three Inns of Court ...

Political career

In 1981, Boateng was elected to represent

Walthamstow Walthamstow ( or ) is a large town in East London, east London, England, within the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Greater London and the Historic counties of England, ancient county of Essex. Situated northeast of Chari ...

Greater London Council The Greater London Council (GLC) was the top-tier local government administrative body for Greater London from 1965 to 1986. It replaced the earlier London County Council (LCC) which had covered a much smaller area. The GLC was dissolved in 198 ...

, of which

Ken Livingstone Kenneth Robert Livingstone (born 17 June 1945) is an English politician who served as the Leader of the Greater London Council (GLC) from 1981 until the council was abolished in 1986, and as Mayor of London from the creation of the office i ...

became leader shortly after the election. As chair of the GLC's police committee and vice-chair of its ethnic minorities committee, he advocated greater accountability in the

Metropolitan Police The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), formerly and still commonly known as the Metropolitan Police (and informally as the Met Police, the Met, Scotland Yard, or the Yard), is the territorial police force responsible for law enforcement and ...

and spoke out against racism in relation to their dealings with the African Caribbean and Asian communities.

Member of Parliament

He unsuccessfully stood as a parliamentary candidate for Hertfordshire West (which included his former home town of Hemel Hempstead) at the

1983 general election The following elections occurred in the year 1983. Africa * 1983 Cameroonian parliamentary election * 1983 Equatorial Guinean legislative election * 1983 Kenyan general election * 1983 Malagasy parliamentary election * 1983 Malawian general e ...

. He was elected at the general election of 1987, when he became the MP for

in succession to Laurence Pavitt, being one of the first four non-white British MPs, elected alongside fellow Labour Party Black Sections members Bernie Grant,

Diane Abbott Diane Julie Abbott (born 27 September 1953) is a British politician who has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Hackney North and Stoke Newington since 1987. A member of the Labour Party, she served in the Shadow Cabinet of Jeremy Corbyn as Sh ...

and Keith Vaz. During his victory speech he said: "We can never be free in Brent until South Africa is free too." He then declared, "Today Brent South, tomorrow Soweto!" Like many other members of Labour's left-wing in the 1980s, he became more moderate under the leadership of Neil Kinnock. For instance, he refused to join the Parliamentary Black Caucus founded by Diane Abbott, Bernie Grant, Keith Vaz and Lord David Pitt, Baron Pitt of Hampstead in 1988, which eventually collapsed. Kinnock rewarded Boateng by making him a junior Treasury spokesman in 1989, and then the first Black person to join the front bench as a party spokesperson. His portfolio included economics, industrial strategies and corporate responsibility. In 1992, he became shadow minister for the Lord Chancellor's Department, a post he held until the 1997 general election, where he was a strong advocate for increasing

pro bono ( en, 'for the public good'), usually shortened to , is a Latin phrase for professional work undertaken voluntarily and without payment. In the United States, the term typically refers to provision of legal services by legal professionals for pe ...

legal services among UK law firms.

Ministerial career

With Labour's landslide victory in 1997, Boateng became the UK's first black government minister as Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Health, where he was responsible for social services, mental health and disabled people. In that position, he published guidelines to end the denial of adoptions purely on the basis of race. In 1998, Boateng became a Minister of State at the Home Office and subsequently became Number 2 Minister there. He was made a

Privy Councillor A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a state, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the mon ...

in 1999. He earned a reputation for being tough on crime, particularly with regard to aggressive begging on the streets. He also worked with Eric Holder, then United States Deputy Attorney-General, and Louis Freeh, then Director of the FBI, on issues related to international drug trafficking and interdiction. His portfolio was expanded in 2000, and he became the first Minister for Young People, where his priority was to listen to and be a voice for Britain's youth. He launched the Youth, Citizenship and Social Change programme, then the UK's largest research project designed to examine social exclusion and promoting citizenship among young people. He also played a leading role in establishing and launching the £450,000,000 Children's Fund designed to tackle child poverty. Boateng's ministerial colleagues encouraged him to stand as the Labour candidate to be the Mayor of London; however, he ruled himself out and strongly criticised his former GLC colleague Ken Livingstone. Boateng supported the candidacy of Frank Dobson, with whom he had served in the Department of Health.

Cabinet history

In 2001, he was made Financial Secretary to the Treasury, and was promoted to the position of Chief Secretary to the Treasury in May 2002, becoming Britain's first black cabinet minister. He was quoted as saying "My colour is part of me but I do not choose to be defined by my colour." His appointment was greeted with praise by civil rights activists who said that his appointment gave hope to young black youths, and would inspire them to become involved in politics. To commemorate this historic achievement, Parliament commissioned a painting of Boateng by Jonathan Yeo, which is displayed in the collection of 21st Century Parliamentarians. In his role as Chief Secretary to the Treasury, he was responsible for finalising the Spending Review of 2002 and leading the Spending Review of 2004. Boateng, coordinating with Sir Peter Gershon's report, announced in 2004 the government's efficiency programme to save over £20,000,000,000 in the public sector. Boateng played a leading role in coordinating the Every Child Matters policy paper, which called for the reform of children's services, including greater accountability and coordination among government agencies. He was also a passionate advocate for increasing development aid to Africa and the developing nations. Foreshadowing his future role, he made numerous trips to Africa, meeting with business and government leaders in an effort to highlight the fact that international aid and the Millennium Development Goals were key priorities for the government. Boateng also assisted Gordon Brown in drafting the Africa Commission report, which called for increasing aid to Africa from Western nations to $50 billion a year. In March 2005, Boateng announced that he would not stand for re-election as an MP at the

general election A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

. Dawn Butler was selected by the Constituency Labour Party to replace him and was elected in Brent South.

High Commissioner to South Africa

Due to Boateng's passion and enthusiasm for the government's Africa Commission Report and his associations with African leaders Tony Blair named him to be the next High Commissioner to South Africa for a term of four years, making him the first black ambassador in British history. Many Africans praised the appointment, stating that it was an important symbolic break from Britain's colonial past and saw it as a symbol of Tony Blair's commitment to the continent. Boateng is credited with building a close relationship with the African National Congress government in South Africa, and it was reported that he privately worked to bring together bitter rivals in the crisis in Zimbabwe, although he publicly condemned the Zimbabwean government's illegal occupation of land from white farmers and the resulting turmoil, which Boateng labelled a "human rights crisis." He has also addressed the World Economic Forum on issues concerning Africa. In 2008, he participated in a number of talks with political leaders in the United States to encourage them to support the Doha Development Round trade negotiations that would open Western markets to goods from Africa and other developing countries.

Appointment to the House of Lords

On 28 May 2010, it was announced in the

2010 Dissolution Honours The 2010 Dissolution Honours List was issued on 28 May 2010 at the advice of the outgoing Prime Minister, Gordon Brown. The list was gazetted on 15 June. Life Peerages Conservative * Timothy Eric Boswell - former Whip and Parliamentary secreta ...

that Boateng would become a member of the House of Lords. On 27 June 2010 he was created Baron Boateng, ''of Akyem in the

Republic of Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and Tog ...

and of Wembley in the

London Borough of Brent The London Borough of Brent () is a London boroughs, London borough in north-west London. It borders the boroughs of London Borough of Harrow, Harrow to the north-west, London Borough of Barnet, Barnet to the north-east, London Borough of Camden ...

'' and was introduced to the Lords on 1 July 2010; he was supported by

Lord Ouseley Herman George Ouseley, Baron Ouseley Kt (born 24 March 1945) is a British parliamentarian, who has run public authorities, including local councils and is an adviser and reviewer of public services organisations. Lord Ouseley has expertise in ...

and Lord Janner. His maiden speech to the House of Lords highlighted the needs of poor and disadvantaged children, both in rural and urban areas. He called on the Government to examine the impact that the

Budget A budget is a calculation play, usually but not always financial, for a defined period, often one year or a month. A budget may include anticipated sales volumes and revenues, resource quantities including time, costs and expenses, environmenta ...

and forthcoming Spending Review would have on children at risk. In December 2011, he initiated a debate in the House of Lords to discuss cuts in funding to the Citizens Advice Bureau centres, which Lord Boateng vehemently opposed. He is a member of Labour Friends of Israel.

Roles outside politics

Boateng is an active Methodist and is a

lay preacher Lay preacher is a preacher or a religious proclaimer who is not a formally ordained cleric Clergy are formal leaders within established religions. Their roles and functions vary in different religious traditions, but usually involve presidi ...

; he served as a Methodist delegate to the World Council of Churches and as Vice-Moderator of its program to combat racism. During the South African General Elections of 1994 which ended apartheid, he was a member of the delegation sent by the Association of Western European Parliamentarians Against Apartheid to monitor the elections. He previously served on the board of the English National Opera (1984 to 1997) and the English Touring Opera (1993 to 1997). In 1993, he wrote the foreword to the HarperCollins collected works edition of

Jane Austen Jane Austen (; 16 December 1775 – 18 July 1817) was an English novelist known primarily for her six major novels, which interpret, critique, and comment upon the British landed gentry at the end of the 18th century. Austen's plots of ...

's '' Sense and Sensibility''. He has been a commentator and television presenter on programmes including Channel 4's ''Nothing But The Truth'' and BBC Radio 4's ''Looking Forward to the Past''. In 2011 he was a non-executive Director of Aegis Defence Services, a private security, military and risk management company founded by controversial arms dealer Lt Colonel

Tim Spicer Timothy Simon Spicer, (born 1952) is a former British Army officer, and former chief executive officer of the private security company Aegis Defence Services. He is a veteran of the Falklands War and also served with the British Army in Norther ...

, who was at the heart of the

Sandline affair The Sandline affair was a political scandal that became one of the defining moments in the history of Papua New Guinea, and particularly the conflict in Bougainville. It brought down the government of Sir Julius Chan, and took Papua New Guinea to ...

but had left by 2013. He was serving on the executive board of the international Christian charity Food for the Hungry, in 2012 and is a trustee of the Planet Earth Institute along with chairman Álvaro Sobrinho. Lord Boateng is a vice-president of The London Library. In 2014,

Lord Boateng Paul Yaw Boateng, Baron Boateng (born 14 June 1951) is a British Labour Party politician, who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Brent South from 1987 to 2005, becoming the UK's first Black Cabinet Minister in May 2002, when he was appoin ...

became the chair of charity BookAid International. In 2019,

became Chancellor of the University of Greenwich.

Honours and awards

In 1988, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference honoured Boateng as the recipient of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Award for his contributions to the field of civil rights. In 2003 he was named on the list of "

100 Great Black Britons ''100 Great Black Britons'' is a poll that was first undertaken in 2003 to vote for and celebrate the greatest Black Britons of all time. It was created in a campaign initiated by Patrick Vernon in response to a BBC search for '' 100 Greatest Brit ...

". He received honorary Doctor of Law degrees from

West London University The University of West London (UWL) is a public research university in the United Kingdom with campuses in Ealing, Brentford, and in Reading, Berkshire. The university has roots in 1860, when the Lady Byron School was founded, later Ealing Col ...

on 25 July 2018, Lincoln University (Pennsylvania) in 2004 and the University of Bristol in 2007.

Personal life

Boateng is married to Janet, a former councillor in

Lambeth Lambeth () is a district in South London, England, in the London Borough of Lambeth, historically in the County of Surrey. It is situated south of Charing Cross. The population of the London Borough of Lambeth was 303,086 in 2011. The area expe ...

. They have two sons and three daughters. In November 2011, Boateng's son Benjamin, then aged 27, was jailed for almost four years for a sex attack on a woman.