His parents found themselves becoming more and more involved in the opposition to Apartheid. First his mother and then his father received banning orders. This meant that they were unable to attend public places such as the children's school. They were issued with special addendums to their banning orders allowing them permission to communicate with each other. Both parents were imprisoned for a short period of time.

Eventually it became impossible to find work and the family came to London.
Peter was 16 years of age when the family arrived at Southampton Docks in April 1966 and the family settled in Putney, London, where he went to a nearby school.

In 1973 Peter obtained a First Class Honours Degree in Economics and Political Science at Queen Mary College, London University and later a Master of Philosophy at Sussex University.

Peter has two adult sons, Sam and Jake, from his first marriage. On 14th June 2003 he married Dr.Elizabeth Haywood.

Peter Hain was Chairman of the 'Stop the Seventy Tour' Campaign which in 1969/70 first heavily disrupted the Springboks rugby tour and finally stopped the South African cricket tour to Britain. He pioneered non-violent direct action tactics that produced the first victory for anti-apartheid protests.

He has also been involved in anti-racist activities in Britain and in 1977 was a founder of the Anti-Nazi League.

He has been a member of the Labour Party since 1977 and a GMB Union member since 1973. He is also a member of Friends of the Earth.

Peter worked for the UPW and UCW (predecessors of today’s Communication Workers Union) for 14 years as a Research Officer.

Peter was elected Labour member of parliament for Neath at the By-Election on 4th April 1991. Prior to the 1997 general election, he served as opposition whip and as shadow employment spokesman. During this period, he was also Chairman of the Tribune Newspaper board of directors.

Peter has extensive experience in Government since 1997 including:

• First in Wales where he led the YES campaign in the 1997 devolution referendum.

• Then twice as Foreign Office Minister twice, where he led negotiations to secure the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in 2001 and was the British government’s representative at the European Union Convention in 2002-3. As Minister for Africa, Peter led the international negotiations to ban so-called “blood diamonds” and was a vocal critic of human rights abuses in Zimbabwe.

• As Energy minister at the DTI in 2001 where he radically reformed the miners’ compensation scheme, which has now paid out over £3 billion to sick miners and their families.

• As Secretary of State for Wales he further devolved power to the Welsh Assembly.

• As Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, where he helped to negotiate a new political settlement to bring peace and a return to devolution, one of the proudest achievements of our Labour Government.

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