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13/05/2003
Amos takes short cut to Cabinet
The vacant seat at the top table in Tony Blair’s Cabinet was filled in short order when within 15 minutes of a resignation it was announced that Baroness Amos was getting a promotion.
Summoned to Downing Street after Clare Short's resignation yesterday, Lady Amos was not among those tipped for the Cabinet seat as the Secretary of State of the Department for International Development (DfID). The 49-year-old junior Foreign Office minister had been expected to work her way up through the middle ranks before she would be considered for the top job.
Yet, the advocates of Guyanan-born Baroness Valerie Amos point out that she arguably was “the right person in the right place at the right time”. The DfID spends a large proportion of its budget on Africa and as the Foreign Office minister in charge of African affairs she has attended to the department’s African affairs for over four years. Furthermore, Lady Amos is generally considered to be rated more highly than many of Mr Blair’s elected ministerial colleagues, and she has the trust of the Prime Minister.
Created a life peer in August 1997, within a year she was appointed as government whip in the House of Lords, where she was spokesperson on International Development, and also spoke on social security and women's issues.
Her friends point to her “directness and competence” as Lady Amos's chief attributes - though the former quality hardly held her predecessor in good stead.
Baroness Amos studied at the Universities of Warwick, Birmingham and East Anglia, and was awarded an Honorary Professorship at Thames Valley University in 1995 in recognition of her work on equality and social justice. After working in Equal Opportunities, Training and Management Services in local government in the London boroughs of Lambeth, Camden and Hackney, she secured the post of Chief Executive of the Equal Opportunities Commission 1989 to 1994.
In 1995 she co-founded Amos Fraser Bernard and was an adviser to the South African government on public service reform, human rights and employment equity. She accompanied Mr Blair during part of his African tour last year, following the Prime Minister’s declaration that African development should be a priority.
(SP)
Summoned to Downing Street after Clare Short's resignation yesterday, Lady Amos was not among those tipped for the Cabinet seat as the Secretary of State of the Department for International Development (DfID). The 49-year-old junior Foreign Office minister had been expected to work her way up through the middle ranks before she would be considered for the top job.
Yet, the advocates of Guyanan-born Baroness Valerie Amos point out that she arguably was “the right person in the right place at the right time”. The DfID spends a large proportion of its budget on Africa and as the Foreign Office minister in charge of African affairs she has attended to the department’s African affairs for over four years. Furthermore, Lady Amos is generally considered to be rated more highly than many of Mr Blair’s elected ministerial colleagues, and she has the trust of the Prime Minister.
Created a life peer in August 1997, within a year she was appointed as government whip in the House of Lords, where she was spokesperson on International Development, and also spoke on social security and women's issues.
Her friends point to her “directness and competence” as Lady Amos's chief attributes - though the former quality hardly held her predecessor in good stead.
Baroness Amos studied at the Universities of Warwick, Birmingham and East Anglia, and was awarded an Honorary Professorship at Thames Valley University in 1995 in recognition of her work on equality and social justice. After working in Equal Opportunities, Training and Management Services in local government in the London boroughs of Lambeth, Camden and Hackney, she secured the post of Chief Executive of the Equal Opportunities Commission 1989 to 1994.
In 1995 she co-founded Amos Fraser Bernard and was an adviser to the South African government on public service reform, human rights and employment equity. She accompanied Mr Blair during part of his African tour last year, following the Prime Minister’s declaration that African development should be a priority.
(SP)
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