Methodist serves as Britain's first black Cabinet minister
1/13/2003 News media contact: Linda Bloom · (646) 369-3759 · New York NOTE: A head-and-shoulders photograph of Paul Boateng is available at http://umns.umc.org/photos/headshots.html. By Kathleen LaCamera* LONDON
(UMNS) - Fifteen years ago, when Labor Party politician, civil rights
lawyer and Methodist lay preacher Paul Boateng became one of the first
persons of color elected to Parliament, he was seen as a young
firebrand.
Today, he is one of Britain's most senior government
officials, a minister in Tony Blair's elite Cabinet, and by all
accounts, as formidable and articulate a politician as you are likely to
meet.
But he would have to be in order to fight his way through
a legacy of discrimination and prejudice that has effectively barred
blacks from public office in Britain until recently. To date, only 37
out of some 1,400-plus members of the House of Lords and the House of
Commons are of African, Caribbean or South Asian descent.
While
Boateng has struggled his entire political career to be seen first as an
effective politician, his appointment as Britain's first black Cabinet
minister last May attracted much attention, in part, because of the
color of his skin. One of 31 Methodists in Parliament, he serves as the
chief secretary to the treasury, working closely with the powerful
chancellor of the exchequer on government spending. It's the job a BBC
journalist called one of the most demanding in the British government.
"This
is a vocation," Boateng told United Methodist News Service in a recent
interview. "It's a privilege to serve and to be called to service."
The
Rev. Victor Watson, a retired Methodist minister and longtime friend,
said Boateng makes no bones about the Christian faith that shapes his
work as an elected representative and government minister.
"His
faith informs his political life," he explained. "In politics, it's
very difficult to maintain one's own integrity and understanding of the
imperative of the Gospel on issues of freedom and fairness and the gap
between rich and poor. ... Paul is not afraid to say where he stands."
A
succession of appointments to government leadership roles in areas such
as health, prisons, and young people has made it clear that Boateng's
political star has been rising for some time. Still, his appointment by
the prime minister to the Blair Cabinet marks an historic political as
well as personal milestone.
"This achievement was long overdue," commented Naboth Muchopa, the British Methodist Church's secretary for race relations.
Only
in the last 50 years have the numbers of black people in Britain been
large enough to make a critical difference at the polls, he explained.
But Muchopa also observed that while Boateng has had to live with the
reality of discrimination against blacks in Britain, he consistently has
fought a broader battle against inequality affecting people from a wide
range of social, economic, religious and racial backgrounds.
"The
whole concept of equality and justice is really where (Paul's) heart
is," said Muchopa. "Paul says, 'I don't do what I do because I'm black; I
do what I do because there's something we need to do.'"
Boateng
was born in Hackney, East London, in 1951 to a Ghanaian father and a
Scottish mother. The family moved to Ghana when he was a boy, and his
father eventually became a cabinet minister in Ghana's Kwame Nkrumah
government.
When a coup d'etat toppled that government in 1966,
Boateng's father was imprisoned and Paul, his mother and younger sister
fled to England. In a United Methodist Communications documentary for
NBC television, Boateng recalled being forced to stand up in front of
his school class the day after his father's arrest and told that his
father deserved to be shot. Reflecting on that experience, he said,
"Political life has never held any illusions. I never believed it was
going to be anything but very tough."
Boateng eventually studied
law and in the 1970s began work at one of the leading trade union and
civil liberties law firms in London. During this time, he became very
involved in Labor Party politics. He also began attending services at
the Walworth Methodist Church at the invitation of Watson, the church's
pastor. Boateng and his wife, Janet, were married there, and the couple
baptized all five of their children as Methodists.
Although he
was raised in the Anglican Church, Boateng said he has stuck with the
Methodism over the last three decades because it incorporates those
Anglican roots but also something else.
"Methodism at its best
brings a vigor through vision, mission and song that the Anglican Church
needs," he reflected. "Methodism brings a dimension of witness in the
community that is precious. It is radical, risk-taking; it's on the
cutting edge. … I like being a part of it."
Rachel Lampard,
secretary for parliamentary and political affairs for the British
Methodist Church, observed Boateng's fearlessness in publicly embracing
his faith during the annual Labor Party conference. Lampard and British
Methodism's then president, Inderjit Bhogal, were chatting over coffee
with Boateng in a busy bar in the conference hotel.
"Paul asked
Rev. Bhogal at the end of the meeting, 'will you pray?'" Lampard
recounted. "And we all stood in a circle at the bar - the place where
all the whispering, lobbying and gossiping was going on around us - with
this government minister and a bloke in a dog collar praying."
"I
can't imagine putting my faith in a little box to be opened only in
private among consenting adults on Sunday," Boateng told UMNS. "Some
regard (my faith) as quaint, eccentric, a bit suspicious. So be it."
Boateng
believes the church must have a "prophetic vision" and challenge
government and society on the big issues of material and spiritual
poverty and social alienation. He is clear this role requires action,
not just words, and encourages churches to "get in there with that
vision and witness and form partnerships" with government and other
organizations working for change.
"In the aftermath of 9-11 the
world is indivisible," he said. "We can't allow issues of security and
development around globalization to go unanswered. We have to find a way
forward to help those in poverty to find a way to live better. Poverty
is a scar on our world. The battle against poverty is something that can
bring people together."
Concern and passion for social change
is one thing. Maintaining the power that allows you to make hard
decisions in a world with limited resources is another. Surviving the
rough and tumble of political life inevitably will mean making choices
that draw fire and criticism.
"With the first wave of (black
politicians), unless you played the system, you wouldn't get to
ministerial status," commented Simon Woolley, national coordinator for
Britain's Operation Black Vote. His organization uses the term "black"
to refer to people of African, Caribbean and South Asian descent. "Some
in the black community have been disappointed because Boateng refuses to
wear his color on his sleeve. They see it as a denial of the struggle."
In the 1980s, Boateng played a key role in dismantling the
Britain's national black caucus, maintaining that black politicians
needed to be "mainstream" to be effective.
"Unlike black
American politicians who, through their caucus, have had the space to
talk about black concerns, black politicians here are disparate, easily
picked off by their political masters. … The dawn of the expected
deluge of more black politicians never did happen," Woolley said
The
British political establishment forces black politicians to choose
between being multi-issue representatives or single-issue "black"
politicians, he said.
"Boateng is without a doubt one of the
most articulate politicians in government. He has crossed swords with
the best, and we are proud of him. I just wish he would be more publicly
vocal in addressing black issues," Woolley concluded.
Political
observer Lampard pointed out that Christians can't avoid politics just
because it can be tough. She admires Boateng's decision to get in there
and get his hands dirty, just as the Good Samaritan did.
"Politics
is the broad picture of how we're going to live together, the kind of
decision we take as a community," she said. "Christians can't opt out."
Paul Boateng has opted in - in a big way.
# # #
*LaCamera is a United Methodist News Service correspondent based in England.
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