Butler was selected in 2005 to contest and hold on to the safe Labour seat of Brent South - a seat once held by Paul Boateng

Dawn Butler was the player selected to win and hold former chief secretary to the Treasury Paul Boateng’s old seat of Brent South. Boateng the first Black MP appointed to the cabinet stepped down in 2005 to become high commissioner to South Africa. It was thought at the time that if Butler played her cards right she could be heading for bigger brighter and better things. She is a former GMB union officer and entered the House at 35-years-old. Butler had veteran Black Labour politico Kingsley Abrams engineering her selection campaign and managed to maintain the Labour majority. She caused a stir in April 2008 by exposing racism in the House of commons.
Expect more from her, now that she's found her feet.

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14/04/08