Britain: Global Power or Good Neighbour?
The Beckly Lecture 2022
with the Rt Hon Lord Paul Boateng
Monday 27th June, 8-9:30pm
Since the 2016 referendum, the UK Government have used the term ‘Global Britain’ to refer to the strengths Britain is able to demonstrate on the international stage. But what do our priorities and actions communicate about who Britain is?
In the context of war in Ukraine, rising global inequality and the climate crisis, UK government policy has cut international aid and struck trade agreements which include arms sales, disregard human rights abuses and forget climate impact.
What would it look like to be a ‘Global Britain’ which prioritises peace and justice? How might the Church speak into this debate?
The Rt Hon Lord Paul Boateng brings his political and legal expertise, as well as his own faith, to these questions to deliver the 2022 Beckly Lecture.
Lord Boateng has been a member of the House of Lords since 2010, where he has served on the Joint National Security Strategy Committee. He is currently on the International Relations and Defence Committee. He was MP for Brent South between 1987 and 2005, becoming the UK’s first black government minister in 1997 and the first black Cabinet Minister in 2002, serving in the Department for Health, Home Office and the Treasury. His roles drew a focus on the reform of children’s services, young people, international aid and foreign affairs. He served as British High Commissioner to South Africa from March 2005 to May 2009. He practiced as a civil rights lawyer, first as a solicitor and then as a barrister, primarily advocating on social and community cases. He is also an active Methodist and lay preacher, and currently chairs the Archbishops’ Commission on Racial Justice.
This event took place as a fringe event of The Methodist Conference. Tickets were free, and donations were taken on the day in aid of the Beckly Lecture Fund.