Activist and campaigner Lord Simon Woolley, who has devoted his life to tackling racial inequality in British politics and society, has just received an honorary doctorate from The Open University.
One of the many achievements of Lord Woolley, who was adopted at the age of two and grew up on a council estate in Leicester, was when he became director of Operation Black Vote, which he held for 25 years.
As one of its two founders 18 months before the 1997 General Election, he helped develop a campaign designed to engage ethnic minority voters in the political process.
Under his leadership the organisation had a transformative influence on British politics in terms of voter engagement, policy priorities and political representation.
The number of ethnic minority MPs increased to 65, and people of colour have held all the offices of state, including, of course, Prime Minister.
It remains a non-partisan organisation, aiming to ensure that all political parties work to win over the votes of Black and minority ethnic communities.
Lord Woolley was also a longstanding Commissioner for the Equality and Human Rights Commission, yet he left school with no qualifications. After accepting the honour at a recent degree ceremony in Ely Cathedral, he admitted that in his earlier life he had felt he “didn’t belong”.
But he continued:
“It’s not always where you start from but where you go and how you go.”
It wasn’t until after studying on an access-to-education course in East London that he studied politics and Spanish at Middlesex University.
He urged the students celebrating their success to go through life with a mission and a desire to do extraordinary things. He said their education was their “superpower” to transform society and to give young men and women hope that things will be better.
