Shock as Baroness Brazen is given a 2nd term
BARONESS Scotland was unexpectedly re- elected as Commonwealth secretary general yesterday in a blow to Boris Johnson.
The Prime Minister had backed Jamaican foreign minister Kamina Johnson Smith to replace the Labour peer as the face of the 54nation body.
But members re-elected Baroness Scotland, a minister under Tony Blair and attorney general under Gordon Brown, at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Rwanda.
She won three more votes than Mrs Johnson Smith, who is believed to have won the backing of 24 leaders.
UK officials, who had been privately critical of Baroness Scotland – dubbed Baroness Brazen after a series of scandals – had been confident Mrs Johnson Smith would succeed.
Mr Johnson said his choice would have the ‘vast experience and support to unite our unique family of nations and seize the opportunities ahead’.
He thanked Baroness Scotland for her ‘incredible’ service at the beginning of his trip to Rwanda.
Asked whether he was disappointed she had been re-elected, he said: ‘It’s a good day for democracy. I’ve worked well with Baroness Scotland, have done for a very long time since I became foreign secretary, and I look forward to working well with her in the next couple of years.’
Sources had indicated Baroness Scotland would be voted out. They said she had failed to provide effective leadership. Her allies accuse No 10 of having a vendetta against her because she refused to ‘do the UK’s bidding’.
Foreign Secretary Liz Truss told MPs the UK supports Mrs Johnson Smith, who later had to deny she was a British ‘puppet’.
Dr Sue Onslow, of the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, had warned that Britain’s support for Mrs Johnson Smith could work against her. ‘Commonwealth countries are very sensitive to any appearance that Britain is trying to play too dominant a role,’ she told The Times.
In 2020 Britain, Australia, New Zealand and Canada temporarily cut support to the Commonwealth Secretariat after allegations of cronyism.
Baroness Scotland was accused of ‘circumventing’ competition rules by handing a commission to a fellow Labour peer.
And two senior staff have won tribunals after allegations about her conduct.