Peter Hain

The Lord Hain
Official portrait, 2019
Secretary of State for Wales
In office
5 June 2009 – 11 May 2010
Prime MinisterGordon Brown
Preceded byPaul Murphy
Succeeded byCheryl Gillan
In office
24 October 2002 – 24 January 2008
Prime MinisterTony Blair
Gordon Brown
Preceded byPaul Murphy
Succeeded byPaul Murphy
Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
In office
28 June 2007 – 24 January 2008
Prime MinisterGordon Brown
Preceded byJohn Hutton
Succeeded byJames Purnell
Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
In office
6 May 2005 – 28 June 2007
Prime MinisterTony Blair
Preceded byPaul Murphy
Succeeded byShaun Woodward
First Minister of Northern Ireland
as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
In office
6 May 2005 – 8 May 2007
MonarchElizabeth II
Prime MinisterTony Blair
Preceded byPaul Murphy
Succeeded byIan Paisley (FM)
Martin McGuinness (dFM)
Junior ministerial offices
Leader of the House of Commons
In office
11 June 2003 – 6 May 2005
Prime MinisterTony Blair
Preceded byJohn Reid
Succeeded byGeoff Hoon
Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal
In office
13 June 2003 – 6 May 2005
Prime MinisterTony Blair
Preceded byThe Lord Williams of Mostyn
Succeeded byGeoff Hoon
Minister of State for Europe
In office
11 June 2001 – 24 October 2002
Prime MinisterTony Blair
Preceded byKeith Vaz
Succeeded byDenis MacShane
Minister of State for Energy and Competitiveness in Europe
In office
25 January 2001 – 7 June 2001
Prime MinisterTony Blair
Preceded byHelen Liddell
Succeeded byBrian Wilson
Minister of State for Africa, the Middle East and South Asia
In office
28 July 1999 – 24 January 2001
Prime MinisterTony Blair
Preceded byGeoff Hoon
Succeeded byBrian Wilson
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Wales
In office
2 May 1997 – 28 July 1999
Prime MinisterTony Blair
Preceded byGwilym Jones
Jonathan Evans
Succeeded byDavid Hanson
Further offices held
Shadow Secretary of State for Wales
In office
11 May 2010 – 15 May 2012
Leader
Preceded byCheryl Gillan
Succeeded byOwen Smith
Member of the House of Lords
Life peerage
22 October 2015
Member of Parliament
for Neath
In office
4 April 1991 – 30 March 2015
Preceded byDonald Coleman
Succeeded byChristina Rees
Personal details
Born
Peter Gerald Hain

(1950-02-16) 16 February 1950 (age 74)
Nairobi, British Kenya
Political partyLabour (1977–present)
Other political
affiliations
Anti-Nazi League (1977–1981)
Liberal (1960–1977)
Spouses
  • Patricia Western
    (m. 1975; div. 2002)
  • (m. 2003)
ChildrenSamuel · Jake
Parent(s)Walter Vannet Hain
Adelaine Stocks
EducationPretoria Boys High School
Emanuel School, London
Alma materQueen Mary College, University of London
University of Sussex
Signature
Websitepeterhain.com
parliament.lordhain.uk

Peter Gerald Hain, Baron Hain, PC (born 16 February 1950), is a British politician who served as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland from 2005 to 2007, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions from 2007 to 2008 and twice as Secretary of State for Wales from 2002 to 2008 and from 2009 to 2010. A member of the Labour Party, he was Member of Parliament (MP) for Neath between 1991 and 2015.

Born in Kenya Colony to South African parents, Hain came to the United Kingdom from South Africa as a teenager and was a noted anti-fascist and anti-apartheid campaigner in the 1970s, and was convicted of criminal conspiracy for leading direct action events.[1] Elected to Parliament at a 1991 by-election, he initially served in Tony Blair's government as a junior minister in the Wales Office, Foreign Office and Department of Trade and Industry. Promoted to the Cabinet as Welsh Secretary in 2002, he served concurrently as Leader of the House of Commons from 2003 to 2005 and Northern Ireland Secretary from 2005 to 2007.

Hain ran for the deputy leadership of the Labour Party in the 2007 deputy leadership election, coming fifth out of six candidates. He was promoted to Work and Pensions Secretary by new leader Gordon Brown, while remaining Welsh Secretary. His failure to declare donations during the deputy leadership contest led to his resignation from both roles in 2008. He later returned to the Cabinet from 2009 to 2010 as Welsh Secretary.

After Labour was defeated at the 2010 general election, Hain was Shadow Welsh Secretary in the Shadow Cabinet of Ed Miliband from 2010 until 2012, when he announced his retirement from frontline politics. He announced in June 2014 he would stand down as MP for Neath at the 2015 general election and was subsequently nominated for a life peerage in the 2015 Dissolution Honours.

  1. ^ "Profile: Peter Hain". 22 January 2009. Archived from the original on 10 October 2013. Retrieved 22 May 2010.