Valerie Ann Amos, Baroness Amos (born 13 March 1954) is a BritishLabour Partypolitician anddiplomat who served as the eighth UNUnder-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator. Before her appointment to theUN, she served asBritish High Commissioner to Australia. She was created alife peer in 1997, serving asLeader of the House of Lords andLord President of the Council from 2003 to 2007.
When she was appointedSecretary of State for International Development on 12 May 2003, following the resignation ofClare Short, Amos became the firstBlack, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) woman to serve as aCabinet minister. She left the Cabinet whenGordon Brown becamePrime Minister. In July 2010,Secretary-General of the United NationsBan Ki-moon announced Baroness Amos's appointment to the role ofUnder-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator.[2] She took up the position on 1 September 2010 and remained in post until 29 May 2015. In September 2015, Amos was appointed Director ofSOAS, University of London,[3] becoming the first black woman to lead a university in the United Kingdom.[4]
Since September 2020, Amos has been Master ofUniversity College, Oxford, succeedingSir Ivor Crewe and becoming the first-ever black head of anOxford college, as well as the first woman to head that college.[5][6]
Amos was born in 1954 inBritish Guiana (nowGuyana) in South America and, after moving with her family to Great Britain in 1963,[7] she attended Bexley Technical High School for Girls (nowTownley Grammar School),Bexleyheath, where she was the first black deputy head girl.[8] She completed a degree inSociology at theUniversity of Warwick (1973–76), an MA incultural studies at theUniversity of Birmingham (where the department was led byStuart Hall),[9] and studied education at theUniversity of East Anglia.
After working in Equal Opportunities, Training and Management Services in local government in theLondon boroughs ofLambeth,Camden andHackney, Amos became Chief Executive of theEqual Opportunities Commission in 1989, leaving the position in 1994.
In 1995, Amos co-founded the consultancy firm Amos Fraser Bernard and was an adviser to theSouth African government on public service reform, human rights and employment equity.
Amos has also been deputy chair of theRunnymede Trust (1990–1998); a trustee of theInstitute for Public Policy Research; anon-executive director of theUniversity College London Hospitals Trust; a trustee ofVoluntary Service Overseas; chair of the Afiya Trust; a director ofHampstead Theatre; chair of the Board of Governors of theRoyal College of NursingInstitute; and a trustee, now patron, of the Serious Trust.
Amos was elevated to thepeerage in August 1997 asBaroness Amos, ofBrondesbury in theLondon Borough of Brent.[10][11] In theHouse of Lords, she was a co-opted member of the Select Committee on European Communities Sub-Committee F (Social Affairs, Education and Home Affairs) from 1997 to 1998. From 1998 to 2001, she was aGovernment Whip in the House of Lords and also a spokesperson on Social Security, International Development and Women's Issues as well as one of the Government's spokespersons in the House of Lords on Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs. Baroness Amos was appointed Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Foreign & Commonwealth Affairs on 11 June 2001, with responsibility forAfrica;Commonwealth;Caribbean; Overseas Territories; Consular Issues and FCO Personnel. She was replaced byChris Mullin.
After previously threatening to resign as International Development Secretary in the lead-up to the2003 invasion of Iraq,Clare Short eventually stood down in May 2003 over a draft UN resolution that she felt failed to give "the UN its promised central role in rebuilding Iraq". Baroness Amos, who had been serving as Foreign Office minister and as a spokesperson in the Lords for International Development was swiftly announced as Short's replacement.[12] Her appointment made her "the UK's first black woman cabinet minister" and was an unusual example of a government department being headed by a member of the House of Lords.[12]
Baroness Amos was appointedLeader of the House of Lords on 6 October 2003, following the death ofLord Williams of Mostyn, which meant that her tenure as Secretary of State for International Development lasted less than six months.
On 17 February 2005, theBritish Government nominated Lady Amos to head theUnited Nations Development Programme,[13] but the position was assigned toKemal Derviş.
Baroness Amos left the cabinet when Gordon Brown took over as prime minister fromTony Blair in June 2007. Brown proposed her as theEuropean Union special representative to theAfrican Union.[14] However,Belgian career diplomatKoen Vervaeke was appointed to this role instead. She was a member of theCommittee on Commonwealth Membership, which presented its report on potential changes inmembership criteria for theCommonwealth of Nations at theCommonwealth Heads of Government Meeting 2007 inKampala,Uganda. She was a member of the board of the Sierra LeoneTitanium Resources Group.
On 8 October 2008, it was reported that Amos was to jointhe Football Association's management board for England's bid to host the2018 World Cup. This was described as a "surprise appointment", since she has no recorded interest in football (despite her interest in cricket) or any experience in similar work such as the2012 Olympics bid.[15]
On 4 July 2009, it was announced that Baroness Amos had been appointedBritish High Commissioner to Australia in succession toHelen Liddell (now Baroness Liddell).[16] Amos took up her position in October 2009,[17] and was succeeded byPaul Madden, who took up the appointment during January 2011.[18]
In 2010, United Nations Secretary-GeneralBan Ki-moon announced Amos's appointment asUnder-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator.[19] In March 2012, she visitedSyria on behalf of the UN to press the Syrian government to allow access to all parts of Syria to help people affected by theinsurgency.[20]
In 2015,World Health Organization (WHO) Director GeneralMargaret Chan appointed Amos as member of the Advisory Group on Reform of WHO's Work in Outbreaks and Emergencies with Health and Humanitarian Consequences.[21] Since 2019, Amos has been serving on theCenter for Strategic & International Studies’ (CSIS) Task Force on Humanitarian Access, co-chaired byCory Booker andTodd Young.[22]
In September 2015, she became the ninth director ofSOAS University of London, the first woman of African descent to be director of an institute of higher education in Great Britain.[3][4] In 2019, she co-led a report byUniversities (UUK) and theNational Union of Students (NUS) addressing the disparity between the proportion of "top degrees" (first or 2:1 degrees) achieved by white and black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) students.[23]
In January 2021, Amos left her position at SOAS to becomeMaster ofUniversity College, Oxford, as both the first woman appointed to that post and the first black head of any Oxford college.[24]
Amos was awarded anhonorary professorship atThames Valley University in 1995 in recognition of her work on equality and social justice. On 1 July 2010, she received the honorary degree ofDoctor of the University (DUniv) from theUniversity of Stirling in recognition of her "outstanding service to our society and her role as a model of leadership and success for women today."[25] She has also been awarded thehonorary degrees ofDoctor of Laws (Hon LLD) from theUniversity of Warwick in 2000[26] and theUniversity of Leicester in 2006.[27]
At the University of Birmingham, where she studied as an undergraduate, theGuild of Students have named one of the committee rooms "The Amos Room" after her, in acknowledgement of her services to society.[28]
In 2012, Amos was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws degree (Hon LLD) from theUniversity of Nottingham,[29] and in 2013, made an honoraryDoctor of Civil Law (Hon DCL) atDurham University.[30]
Amos was appointed aMember of the Order of the Companions of Honour (CH) in the2016 Birthday Honours for services to the United Nations and emergency relief.[31][32]
In 2017, Amos was awarded anhonorary degree atMiddlesex University, thereby "recognising achievement at the highest level as well as dedication to public duty and making a difference to others' lives."[33]
In July 2018, Amos received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree (Hon LLD) from theUniversity of Bristol.[34] In December 2018, she was awarded an honoraryDoctorate of Literature (Hon DLitt) by theUniversity of the Witwatersrand.[1]
She was elected to theAmerican Academy of Arts and Sciences as an International Honorary Member in 2019.[35]
On 1 January 2022, the Queen appointed Amos aLady Companion of the Order of the Garter (LG).[36][37] Amos's banner of arms was erected atSt George's Chapel, Windsor, on 13 June. Amos is the first black "knight or lady companion" member of the order since its foundation (excluding theEmperor of EthiopiaHaile Selassie, who as a foreign monarch was a stranger knight companion of the order).[38][39]
In November 2022, Amos was awarded anhonorary fellowship of theUniversity of London.[40][41]
In May 2023, Amos took part in theCoronation of Charles III, representing theOrder of the Garter.[42]
In July 2023, theUniversity of Sussex awarded Amos an honorary degree, praising her as "the first Black woman to lead a university",[43] and in November of the same year, she was conferred with an Honorary Doctor of Law degree (Hon LLD) from theUniversity of Guyana.[44][45][46]
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Amos is an enthusiast ofcricket and talked about her love of the game withJonathan Agnew onTest Match Special during the lunch break of the first day of theEngland v.New Zealandtest match atOld Trafford in May 2008.[47][48]
After resigning from the cabinet, Baroness Amos took up a directorship with Travant Capital, a Nigerian private equity fund launched in 2007.[49] In the House of Lords Register of Members Interests, she lists this directorship as remunerated.[50]
Amos was listed as one of "the 50 best-dressed over-50s" byThe Guardian in March 2013.[51]
In addition, The Queen has been graciously pleased to appoint The Right Honourable Valerie Ann, Baroness Amos C.H. to be a Lady Companion
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Secretary of State for International Development 2003 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Leader of the House of Lords 2003–2007 | Succeeded by |
| Lord President of the Council 2003–2007 | ||
| Party political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Leader of the Labour Party in the House of Lords 2003–2007 | Succeeded by |
| Diplomatic posts | ||
| Preceded by | British High Commissioner to Australia 2009–2010 | Succeeded by |
| Positions in intergovernmental organisations | ||
| Preceded by John Holmes (  ) | Undersecretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator 2010–2015 | Succeeded by |
| Academic offices | ||
| Preceded by | Director ofSOAS University of London 2015–2021 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Master of University College, Oxford 2020–present | Incumbent |
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* Served as Minister for (Overseas) Development as aminister of state at theForeign Office | ||
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