46 Facts About Patricia Scotland

Patricia Scotland was elected at the 2015 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting and took office on 1 April 2016.

Patricia Scotland is the first woman to hold the post.

Patricia Scotland was elevated to the House of Lords in 1997 and, as a British Labour Party politician, served in ministerial positions within the UK Government, most notably as the Attorney General for England and Wales and Advocate General for Northern Ireland.

Patricia Scotland is a dual citizen of the United Kingdom and Dominica, where she was born.

Patricia Scotland's family emigrated to Walthamstow in north-east London when she was two years old, where she attended Chapel End Primary School and Walthamstow School for Girls.

Patricia Scotland then went on to Mid Essex Technical College in Chelmsford, where she obtained a Bachelor of Laws degree from University of London as an external student.

Patricia Scotland was called to the bar at the Middle Temple in 1977, specialising in family law, and was called to the Dominican bar in 1978.

In 1991, Patricia Scotland became the first black woman to be appointed a Queen's Counsel.

Patricia Scotland later founded the 1 Gray's Inn Square barristers chambers.

Patricia Scotland was named as a Millennium Commissioner on 17 February 1994, and was a member of the Commission for Racial Equality.

Patricia Scotland received a life peerage on a Labour Party list of working peers and was made Baroness Scotland of Asthal of Asthal in the County of Oxfordshire on 30 October 1997.

From 1999 to 2001, Patricia Scotland was the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, where she was responsible, among others, for the UK Government's diplomatic relations with North America, the Caribbean, Overseas Territories, Consular Division, British Council, administration and all Parliamentary business in the House of Lords.

Patricia Scotland introduced the International Criminal Court Bill which sought to ratify the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court into UK law.

Patricia Scotland established the Pro Bono Lawyers Panel, a panel of British-based lawyers who provided legal advice on a pro bono basis to United Kingdom nationals imprisoned in foreign countries.

Patricia Scotland was the minister formally responsible for civil justice and the reform of civil law including the comprehensive reform of land registration leading to the Land Registration Act 2002.

Patricia Scotland was formally responsible for international affairs at the Lord Chancellor's Department and was appointed by Prime Minister Tony Blair as the UK Alternate Representative to the European Convention and was given primary responsibility for the negotiations in relation to the Charter of Rights which were successfully concluded in 2003.

Patricia Scotland was an unsuccessful contender for a cabinet position in 2003, when Blair reportedly considered appointing her Leader of the House of Lords.

In 2003, Patricia Scotland was made Minister of State for the Criminal Justice System and Law Reform at the Home Office and deputy to the Home Secretary.

Patricia Scotland served in that post until 2007 under three Home Secretaries: David Blunkett, Charles Clarke and John Reid.

Patricia Scotland created the Office of Criminal Justice Reform which helped to create and support the National Criminal Justice Board and the Local Criminal Justice Board.

Patricia Scotland created an advisory group on victims and the Criminal Justice Centre, Victims and Witness units.

Patricia Scotland introduced the Crime and Victims Act, which created the new offence of familial homicide that was successfully used to prosecute the killers of Baby P who would otherwise have escaped responsibility for his death.

Patricia Scotland continued her responsibility for international affairs at the Home Office and continued to represent the UK in a number of international negotiations such as those relating to extradition.

Patricia Scotland had the responsibility for promoting the necessary legislation in the House of Lords.

On 28 June 2007, Patricia Scotland was appointed Attorney General by Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

Patricia Scotland was the first woman to hold the office since its foundation in 1315.

Patricia Scotland created the Pro Bono Awards and Pro Bono Heroes.

Patricia Scotland was the last Attorney General for England and Wales to be the Attorney General for Northern Ireland before the devolution of justice powers to the Northern Ireland Assembly, and appointment of a separate Attorney General for Northern Ireland.

Patricia Scotland 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, Patricia Scotland became the Shadow Attorney General and was reappointed to that role by Ed Miliband when he appointed his first Shadow Cabinet in October 2010.

In December 2014, Patricia Scotland was elected as the Alderman for the ward of Bishopsgate in the City of London, having stood as an independent candidate.

At the 2015 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, Patricia Scotland was nominated for the position of Commonwealth Secretary-General by her native country of Dominica and defeated Antiguan diplomat Ronald Sanders, who was thought to have been the frontrunner for the position, and former deputy secretary-general for political affairs Mmasekgoa Masire-Mwamba of Botswana to become the 6th Commonwealth Secretary-General and the first woman to hold the post.

Patricia Scotland began her first of a maximum of two possible four-year terms on 1 April 2016.

Lady Patricia Scotland was re-elected to a second term at the 2022 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, reportedly defeating Jamaican foreign minister Kamina Johnson Smith by 27 votes to 24.

In January 2009 Patricia Scotland employed Lolo Tapui, an illegal immigrant as a cleaner.

Patricia Scotland 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 Patricia Scotland was a Home Office minister.

The investigation by the UK Border Agency found that Patricia Scotland did not "knowingly" employ an illegal worker.

In November 2016 political blogger Guido Fawkes published purported extracts from leaked documents exposing Patricia Scotland's extravagant spending on redecorating her grace and favour apartment in Mayfair, London.

Patricia 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 by Kamalesh Sharma, the Commonwealth's secretary-general from 2008 to 2016.

In January 2020, Patricia 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.

Patricia Scotland is the joint Patron of Missio, a charity which is the Catholic Church's official support organisation for overseas mission.

Patricia Scotland is a patron of Children and Families Across Borders, a charity dedicated to reuniting children who have been separated from their families.

Patricia Scotland has been voted Peer of the Year by Channel 4, The House magazine, Parliamentarian of the Year by the Spectator and the Political Studies Association, and received a number of other awards for her contribution to law reform in the UK and abroad.

Patricia Scotland was awarded an honorary degree from the University of East London in 2005.

Patricia Scotland was decreed and invested by Prince Carlo, Duke of Castro, as a Dame of Merit with Star of the Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George in 2003.