Dawn Butler MP for Brent South Becomes First British Black Female Minister in the House of Commons
Just two weeks before Black History Month is celebrated across the UK, another milestone in British politics was reached when Brent South MP, Dawn Butler, the daughter of Jamaican immigrants, was appointed as the first ever elected African Caribbean female Minister in the House of Commons.
Just over a decade earlier in the most ethnically diverse constituency in the UK, the Brent South seat that Ms. Butler holds saw her predecessor Rt. Hon. Paul Boateng become the first ever Black Minister in Government.
Described as a rising star in the Labour Party, the former Trade Union official was quickly promoted in the year she was elected and became a PPS to Health Minster Jane Kennedy. In 2006 Dawn was unanimously elected by a cross party delegation of MP’s as Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Youth Affairs. In 2007 Dawn was promoted by the Prime Minister as Vice Chair of the Party with a remit on Youth.
Dawn said, ‘The seat that I hold here in Brent is no stranger to being the first to pass milestones in political history. Just over a decade ago in 1997 here in the most ethnically diverse constituency in the UK, Paul Boateng became the first ever Black Minister in Government. In 2003 our very own Brent resident Baroness Valerie Amos in the House of Lords was appointed as the first Black woman in Cabinet and I am proud and privileged to follow in their footsteps by being the first elected African Caribbean female Minister.’
Next month sees the start of Black History Month in the UK. Being one of only two Black women out of 646 MP’s in Parliament goes some way in showing the scale of enormity that Dawn’s promotion means not just to her constituents in Brent but to the history of politics.
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