Baroness Doreen Lawrence: campaigner to be given peerage
Doreen Lawrence, the mother of murdered teenager Stephen, is to be made a baroness and given a seat in the House of Lords in a new list of peerages to be published on Thursday.
Labour leader Ed Miliband is understood to have nominated Mrs Lawrence, 60, for the peerage because of the “strength and courage she has shown in her fight for justice” and she will sit on the Labour benches.
‘Hero of modern Britain’
Mrs Lawrence has campaigned for justice for her son, who was stabbed to death by a gang in south London in 1993, when he was 18 years old.
“Doreen Lawrence is a hero of modern Britain,” a Labour source said. “The strength and courage she has shown in her fight for justice for her son Stephen has had a profound impact on attitudes to racism and policing.
“Her campaigning has changed, and will continue to change, our country for the better. Ed Miliband believes voices like hers should always be heard in parliament.”
Doreen is an example and an inspiration – she will make a fine addition to Labour’s team in the House of Lords @LabourLordsUK
— Chuka Umunna (@ChukaUmunna) July 31, 2013
Mrs Lawrence founded the Stephen Lawrence Charitable Trust to support young people from ethnic minority backgrounds to pursue their ambitions, and has been chosen to sit on Home Office and police panels.
It is understood that she was persuaded to accept the peerage by Labour’s shadow justice secretary Sadiq Khan.
Stephen Lawrence’s murderers, Gary Dobson and David Norris, were jailed in 2012 for 15 and 14 years respectively for the killing.
However, Mrs Lawrence and her family were back in the spotlight recently when allegations emerged that undercover officers had tried to find information that could be used to smear the family.