Baroness scotland biography

British Dominican barrister, diplomat and Labour life peer (born 1955)

Patricia Janet Scotland, Baroness Scotland of Asthal, PC, KC (born 19 August 1955), is a Dominican-British barrister and politician, serving as the sixth secretary-general of the Commonwealth of Nations.

She was elected at the 2015 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting and took office on 1 April 2016. She is the first woman to hold the post.^[2]

She 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.

She is a dual citizen of the United Kingdom and Dominica, where she was born.^[3]

Early life and career

Scotland was born on 19 August 1955 in Dominica, in the British Windward Islands. She was the tenth child of twelve born to Roman Catholic parents,^[4] a Dom