Paul Boateng
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The Right Honourable The Lord Boateng PC |
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| British High Commissioner to South Africa | |
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In office 14 March 2005 – 26 April 2009 |
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| Monarch | Elizabeth II |
| Preceded by | Ann Grant |
| Succeeded by | Nicola Brewer |
| Chief Secretary to the Treasury | |
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In office 29 May 2002 – 5 May 2005 |
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| Prime Minister | Tony Blair |
| Preceded by | Andrew Smith |
| Succeeded by | Des Browne |
| Financial Secretary to the Treasury | |
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In office 8 June 2001 – 28 May 2002 |
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| Prime Minister | Tony Blair |
| Preceded by | Stephen Timms |
| Succeeded by | Ruth Kelly |
| Minister of State for Home Affairs | |
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In office 27 October 1998 – 8 June 2001 |
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| Prime Minister | Tony Blair |
| Preceded by | Alun Michael |
| Succeeded by | John Denham |
| Minister for the Disabled | |
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In office 4 May 1997 – 27 October 1998 |
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| Prime Minister | Tony Blair |
| Preceded by | Alistair Burt |
| Succeeded by | Margaret Hodge |
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Member of Parliament for Brent South |
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In office 12 June 1987 – 11 April 2005 |
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| Preceded by | Laurence Pavitt |
| Succeeded by | Dawn Butler |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
14 June 1951 Hackney, England |
| Political party | Labour |
| Spouse(s) | Janet Boateng |
| Children | 5 |
| Alma mater | University of Bristol |
| Religion | Methodism |
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 mixed-race Cabinet 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 from March 2005 to May 2009. He was introduced as a member of the House of Lords on 1 July 2010.
Boateng was born in Hackney, London of mixed Ghanaian and Scottish heritage; his family later moved to Ghana when Boateng was four years old. His father, Kwaku Boateng, was a lawyer and cabinet minister during Nkrumah's Regime. There, Boateng attended Accra Academy High School. 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 then government. His father was imprisoned without trial for four years. Boateng, then 15, and his sister, Rosemary Boateng, fled to Britain with their mother.
They settled in Hemel Hempstead where he attended Apsley Grammar School. He read law at the University of Bristol and began his career in civil rights, originally as a solicitor, though he later retrained as a barrister. He worked primarily on social and community cases, starting under renowned civil rights advocate Benedict Birnberg, involving women's rights, housing and police complaints, including a period from 1977-1981 as the legal advisor for the Scrap Sus Campaign. Boateng was also an executive member of the National Council for Civil Liberties. He represented Cherry Groce, a mother of six who was shot and paralysed by a police officer during a raid on her home in the 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.
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