Paul Boateng - Career Outside of Politics

Career Outside of Politics

Boateng is an active Methodist and Methodist lay preacher; he served as a Methodist delegate to the World Council of Churches and as Vice-Moderator of its program to combat racism. He previously served on the board of the English National Opera (1984 to 1997) and the English Touring Opera (1993 to 1997). During the historic South African General Elections of 1994, he was a member of the delegation sent by the Association of Western European Parliamentarians Against Apartheid to monitor the elections. In 1993, he also wrote the foreword to the Harper Collins collected works edition of Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility. He's been a commentator and television presenter, most notably for Channel 4's "Nothing But The Truth" and the BBC Radio 4's "Looking Forward to the Past."

In 1988, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference honored Boateng as the recipient of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Award for his contributions to the field of civil rights. He received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Lincoln University (Pennsylvania) in 2004 and the University of Bristol in 2007. He is currently a non-executive Director of Aegis Defence Services, a private security, military and risk management company. He also serves on the executive board of the international Christian charity, Food for the Hungry.