Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. Valerie Ann Amos, Baroness Amos, PC (born 13 March 1954) is a British Labour politician, who is currently the British High Commissioner to Australia. Prior to this appointment, she had been made a Labour life peer in 1997 and served as Leader of the House of Lords and Lord President of the Council. When she was appointed Secretary of State for International Development on 12 May 2003, following the resignation of Clare Short, she became the first black woman to sit in the Cabinet of the United Kingdom. She left the Cabinet when Gordon Brown became Prime Minister. She was then nominated to become the European Union Special Representative to the African Union by Gordon Brown.