Patricia Janet Scotland, Baroness Scotland of Asthal,PC, KC (born 19 August 1955), is a Dominican-British barrister and politician who served as the sixthsecretary-general of theCommonwealth of Nations from 2016 to 2025. She was the first woman to hold that post.[2]
After working as a barrister inLondon, she was appointed as alife peer in 1997 and, as a BritishLabour Party politician, served in ministerial positions within theUK Government, most notably asAttorney General for England and Wales and asAdvocate General for Northern Ireland. She is adual citizen of the United Kingdom and Dominica, where she was born.[3]
Scotland was born on 19 August 1955 inDominica, in theBritish Windward Islands. She was the tenth child of twelve born to Roman Catholic parents,[4] a Dominican mother andAntiguan father.[5] When she was two years old, her family immigrated toWalthamstow in north-east London, where she attended Chapel End Primary School andWalthamstow School for Girls. She then went on toMid Essex Technical College inChelmsford, and she obtained aBachelor of Laws degree fromUniversity College London, which at that time awarded theUniversity of London's qualifications.[1] She was called to thebar at theMiddle Temple in 1977, specialising infamily law, and was called to the Dominican bar in 1978.[6]
In 1991, Scotland was appointed as aQueen's Counsel. She later founded the (now closed) 1 Gray's Inn Square barristers' chambers in London.[7] Early in 1997, she was elected as aBencher of theMiddle Temple. Scotland was named as a Millennium Commissioner on 17 February 1994, and she was a member of theCommission for Racial Equality. She received alife peerage on aLabour Party list ofworking peers and was madeBaroness Scotland of Asthal,ofAsthal in theCounty of Oxfordshire, on 30 October 1997.[8]
From 1999 to 2001, Scotland was theParliamentary Under-Secretary of State at theForeign and Commonwealth Office, where she was responsible, among others, for the UK Government's diplomatic relations withNorth America, theCaribbean,Overseas Territories,Consular Division,British Council, administration and all Parliamentary business in theHouse of Lords. Scotland introduced theInternational Criminal Court Bill which sought to ratify the jurisdiction of theInternational Criminal Court into UK law.
In 2001, she became Parliamentary Secretary,Lord Chancellor's Department, and was made a member of thePrivy Council of the United Kingdom. She was the minister formally responsible for civil justice and the reform of civil law including the comprehensive reform of land registration leading to theLand Registration Act 2002. She was also formally responsible for international affairs at the Lord Chancellor's Department and was appointed by Prime MinisterTony Blair as the UK Alternate Representative to the European Convention[9] and was given primary responsibility for the negotiations in relation to the Charter of Rights which were successfully concluded in 2003.
Scotland was an unsuccessful contender for acabinet position in 2003, when Blair reportedly considered appointing herLeader of the House of Lords.[10]
In 2003, Scotland was madeMinister of State for the Criminal Justice System and Law Reform at theHome Office and deputy to the Home Secretary. She served in that post until 2007 under three Home Secretaries:David Blunkett,Charles Clarke andJohn Reid.
On 28 June 2007, Scotland was appointedAttorney General by Prime MinisterGordon Brown.[7] She was the first woman to hold the office since its foundation in 1315.
She was the lastAttorney General for England and Wales also to be theAttorney General for Northern Ireland before the devolution of justice powers to theNorthern Ireland Assembly, and appointment of a separate Attorney General for Northern Ireland. She became instead Advocate General for Northern Ireland, the UK government's chief advisor on Northern Ireland law, for a brief period until Labour left office.
When Labour left government on 11 May 2010, Scotland became the Shadow Attorney General and was reappointed to that role byEd Miliband when he appointed his first Shadow Cabinet in October 2010.[11]
In November 2012, she was appointedPrime Ministerial Trade Envoy to South Africa.[12]
In December 2014, Scotland was elected as theAlderman for the ward ofBishopsgate in theCity of London, having stood (in accordance with convention in the City) as an independent candidate.[13]
.jpg)
At the2015 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, Scotland was nominated for the position ofCommonwealth Secretary-General by her native country of Dominica and defeated Antiguan diplomatRonald Sanders, who was thought to have been the frontrunner for the position,[14] and formerdeputy secretary-general for political affairsMmasekgoa Masire-Mwamba of Botswana to become the sixth Commonwealth Secretary-General and the first woman to hold the post. She began her first of a maximum of two possible four-year terms on 1 April 2016.[2][15]
Her candidacy was opposed by retiredCanadian senatorHugh Segal, formerly Canada's special envoy to the Commonwealth and a member of the 2009—2011Commonwealth Eminent Persons Group mandated to recommend reforms to improve Commonwealth governance,[16] who wrote in an editorial that Scotland was not qualified for the position because she "accepted a well-paying brief from ajunta in the Maldives to argue against the Commonwealth's legitimacy when it and Canada sought the restoration of democracy in that country."[17][18]
Her bid to have her four-year term automatically renewed was rejected in June 2020, in contrast to the usual convention where an incumbent seeking a second term in office is elected unopposed for his or her second term. This followed a "significant and diverse number of colleagues from across the Commonwealth" raising objection to the proposal, due to allegations ofcronyism following an audit of the Commonwealth Secretariat's procurement practices. Her first term was extended, however, due to the postponement of the2020 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.[19][20]
Scotland was re-elected to a second term at the2022 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, reportedly defeating Jamaican foreign ministerKamina Johnson Smith by 27 votes to 24. As her first term had been extended by two years due to the pandemic and the postponement of the 2020 CHOGM, Scotland promised that she will only serve for two more years instead of a full four-year term.[21]
In her capacity as Secretary General, Baroness Scotland performed a scripture reading at thefuneral of Queen Elizabeth II inWestminster Abbey on 19 September 2022.[22]
In January 2009, Scotland employed Lolo Tapui, an illegal immigrant, as a cleaner. Tapui had been using a forged passport for the period up to and including December 2008. Tapui was later jailed for eight months for fraud, possessing a false identity stamp, and overstaying her UK visa. At her trial, Tapui admitted to having been paid £95,000 by theDaily Mail. She was later deported to her native Tonga.[23]
Scotland, who was Attorney General at the time, had earlier been subjected to a penalty of £5,000 for employing Tapui. She had not kept copies of relevant documents to check Tapui's immigration status and could therefore not establish a statutory defence. The rules were established when Scotland was a Home Office minister. The investigation by theUK Border Agency found that Scotland did not "knowingly" employ an illegal worker.[24]
In November 2016, political bloggerGuido Fawkes published purported extracts from leaked documents exposing Scotland's extravagant spending on redecorating hergrace and favour apartment inMayfair,London. Scotland denied the claims in a statement posted on the Commonwealth's website, insisting there had been "no extravagance at all" and explained that the spending was agreed byKamalesh Sharma, the Commonwealth's secretary-general from 2008 to 2016.[25][26]
In January 2020, Scotland faced further criticism of her role as secretary-general of the Commonwealth for awarding a consultancy contract to a company run by a friend. The Audit Committee of the international organisation noted that she offered a contract to a fellow Labour peer,Lord Patel of Bradford, despite his firm being "apparently insolvent" and "circumventing" the normal competitive tendering process.[27] Auditors also found that procurement rules had not been observed by the secretariat on over 50 occasions.[28]
Scotland has praised the authoritarian regime in Azerbaijan for its leadership on climate issues.[29] In 2024, she attended an event in Baku organized by a newly created Azerbaijani NGO run by a businessperson with close ties to the authoritarian regime.[29] At the event, she urged young Azerbaijanis to support their authoritarian government.[29] She also laid flowers at the grave of Azerbaijani dictatorHeydar Aliyev.[29] She attended an event in 2015 at Baku’s Four Seasons Hotel launching a book praising Azerbaijan's state-owned oil companySOCAR.[29]
Scotland was decreed and invested byPrince Carlo, Duke of Castro, as a Dame of Merit with Star of theSacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George in 2003. In 2014 she was appointed to the Council of the British and Irish Delegation of the Constantinian Order and promoted in rank to Dame Grand Cross of Merit. Scotland has been voted Peer of the Year byChannel 4,[30]The House magazine,[31] Parliamentarian of the Year bythe Spectator[32] and the Political Studies Association,[33] and received a number of other awards for her contribution to law reform in the UK and abroad. Scotland was awarded anhonorary degree from theUniversity of East London in 2005.[34]Powerlist ranked her as the most influential Black Briton in 2010, 2007 and 2008.[35][36][37] On 1 January 2014, she was appointedchancellor of theUniversity of Greenwich.[38] In 2015, she was listed as one ofBBC's 100 Women.[39]
Scotland resides in London[40] and inAsthal, Oxfordshire, where she and her husband Richard Mawhinney, also a barrister, live with their two sons.[41][42]
Scotland's son Matthew Mawhinney has appeared on the reality seriesToo Hot to Handle. In 2021, he was arrested and fined for abusing cabin crew on aBritish Airways flight, including shouting "Look up who my mum is – Baroness Scotland [...] go and get me a drink" after being refused alcohol.[43]
Scotland is the Patron of the Corporate Alliance Against Domestic Violence,[44]Chineke! Foundation,[45] Missio,[46] andChildren and Families Across Borders (CFAB).[47]
  |
|
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Attorney General for England and Wales 2007–2010 | Succeeded by |
| Attorney General for Northern Ireland 2007–2010 | Succeeded by | |
| New office | Advocate General for Northern Ireland 2010 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Shadow Attorney General 2010–2011 | Succeeded by |
| Academic offices | ||
| Preceded by | Chancellor of theUniversity of Greenwich 2014–present | Incumbent |
| Diplomatic posts | ||
| Preceded by | Secretary-General of the Commonwealth of Nations 2016–2025 | Succeeded by |
| Cabinet members | Gordon Brown
| _(St_Edwards_Crown).svg) |
|---|---|---|
| Also attended meetings | ||
| Attended while on agenda | ||
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| People | |
.jpg)
