The Attorney-General last night hailed the election of Barack Obama as “a really fantastic day just but for American but for the whole world”.

Baroness Scotland of Asthal, who is both the first woman and first black person to become the Government’s chief law officer, said that the election had “galvanised” so many people that it was a “great day for democracy”.

She said: “The campaigns, on both sides, show that people can be brought to understand what the issues are and that you can get people involved . . . and that politics does make a difference.”

Commenting on parallels drawn by some commentators with her own rise to a top public position in Britain from a humble background, she said: “Who would have thought that someone brought up in Walthamstow, who had a comprehensive education and did not go to Oxbridge . . . I am the last person [to be a likely candidate] but after 700 years I am here as Attorney-General.”

Baroness Scotland, who was born the 10th of 12 children in Dominica to Antiguan and Dominican parents but moved to Walthamstow when she was three, disagreed with the view that Britain lagged behind America in terms of the public positions of people from ethnic minorities.

“Look at the changes made, look at the people on the front bench . . . would people have thought that we would have had a black woman, Baroness Amos, as leader of the House of Lords for instance, doing an incredibly important job?”

She said there was no reason, either, why there could not be a black Prime Minister in Britain. “Why not? I would hate for such a person to be judged by the colour not character and ability. That is the difference now: in the past people allowed colour to be an impediment to judging character . . . now the one criterion we as a society judge people by is quality of talent.”

“There is no longer that automatic assumption that you can’t succeed because of your complexion.”

The election of Obama had brought hope and people were “thrilled by it”, she added. For young black men, he had provided a real role model and shown what could be achieved.

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