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Peter Hain

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The Rt Hon. Peter Hain
180px
Constituency Neath
Served 1991 — present
Majority 12,710 (35.5%)
Political Party Labour Party
Portfolio Secretary of State for Northern Ireland and Secretary of State for Wales
Peter Gerald Hain (born February 16, 1950, Nairobi, Kenya) is a British Labour Party politician, Secretary of State for Northern Ireland and Secretary of State for Wales. He is the Member of Parliament for the Welsh consituency of Neath. He came to the UK from South Africa as a teenager, and was a noted anti-Apartheid campaigner in the 1970s.

Contents

Early life in Africa

Hain was born to South African parents who were anti-apartheid activists in the South African Liberal Party, for which they were made "banned persons", briefly jailed, and prevented from working. Friends of the Hain family formed a small terrorist group, the Armed Resistance Movement (ARM). One of ARM's best known attacks was the planting of a bomb which exploded at Johannesburg station in July 1964, killing two innocent passers-by and injuring many more. A Hain family friend, John Harris, 25, was arrested and convicted of planting the bomb. Harris' wife, Ann, and their young son, David, went to live with the Hains in the run-up to the trial. The 15 year old Peter Hain delivered the eulogy at the service for Harris after his execution by the South African government.

Move to the UK

In 1966 the family fled South Africa and settled in London, where Peter's father Walter Hain made a living as an architect. Peter became chairman of the Stop the Seventy Tour Campaign which disrupted tours by the South African Rugby Union and cricket teams in 1969 and 1970. A 1972 private prosecution brought by Francis Bennion in regard to his leadership of the illegal direct action interference with the tours resulted in a ten day Old Bailey Trial with the jury failing to agree on three charges and hence he was acquitted on those charges, but Peter Hain was found guilty of Criminal Conspiracy and fined £200. He appealed against the conviction in 1973. The Court of Appeal dismissed his appeal with costs. As reported in the Daily Telegraph of 23 October 1973, the court said his conviction was ‘fully justified’. Lord Justice Roskill said Hain had not elected to give evidence, adding ‘He gave no explanation of his part over the incidents with which he was charged’. In 1976 Hain was tried for, and acquitted of, a 1974 bank robbery, allegedly having been framed by South African intelligence agents.

Politics

He joined the Liberal Party and was elected president of the Young Liberals, but in 1977 switched to Labour. The same year, he was a founder of the Anti-Nazi League.

Hain was educated at Emanuel School, Queen Mary's College, University of London, and the University of Sussex, before working as a researcher for the Union of Communication Workers, rising to become their head of research.

Parliamentary career

He was elected to the House of Commons at a by-election in 1991. In 1995 he became a Labour whip and in 1996 became shadow employment minister. After Labour's victory in the 1997 general election he joined the government, first at the Welsh Office, then as minister for Africa at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

Robert Mugabe, whom he had supported in the struggle against white minority rule, attacked him as a "racist" for backing Zimbabwe's white farmers' rights.

Hain moved briefly to the Department of Trade and Industry before returning to the Foreign Office as minister for Europe. He was vocal in advocating joint sovereignty of Gibraltar with Spain, leading to him being reviled in the colony, which overwhelmingly rejected sovereignty in a referendum in November 2002.

In October 2002, he joined the Cabinet as Secretary of State for Wales, but continued to represent the UK at the Convention on the Future of Europe. In June 2003 he was made Leader of the House of Commons and Lord Privy Seal in a cabinet reshuffle, but retained the Wales portfolio. In November 2004 Hain caused controversy among his political rivals when he claimed that "If we are tough on crime and on terrorism, as Labour is, then I think Britain will be safer under Labour".

On 6 May 2005, following the 2005 general election, Hain was appointed as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, retaining his Welsh position also. Although previously a supporter of Irish unity, he has since retreated from this position.

He is widely tipped as a potential future candidate for the position of Deputy Leader of the Labour Party. He is known to have declared to his constituency Labour Party that he is considering standing for the position.

Publications

External links

|- style="text-align: center;" |- style="text-align: center;" |width="30%" align="center" rowspan=""|Preceded by:
The Lord Williams of Mostyn

|width="30%" align="center" rowspan=""|Succeeded by:
Geoff Hoon |- |- |- style="text-align: center;" |width="30%" align="center" rowspan=""|Preceded by:
John Reid

|- style="text-align: center;"

 

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