Amos, Valerie (1954– )

British Labour politician, leader of the House of Lords and president of the Council 2003–07. She became the UK's first female black cabinet member in May 2003 when she was appointed international development secretary after the resignation of Clare Short.

Born in Guyana, she grew up on the island of Wakenaam and emigrated with her parents to England in 1963. After studies at the universities of Warwick, Birmingham, and East Anglia, she became a specialist in equal opportunities, training, and management services in local government in London, and chief executive of the Equal Opportunities Commission 1989–94. She has also been an adviser to the South African government on public service reform and human rights. She was created a life peer in 1997.

She held the post of international development secretary for five months, before becoming leader of the House of Lords. On the change of prime minister in June 2007, from Tony Blair to Gordon Brown, she left the cabinet and Brown nominated her as a candidate to become European Union special representative to the African Union. But she failed to get this position, which instead went to the Belgian diplomat Koen Vervaeke.