The child of South African parents jailed, banned and forced into exile during the freedom struggle, aged 19 from 1969-70 Peter Hain led anti-apartheid campaigns to stop all-white South African sports tours – and in retaliation was sent a letter bomb, framed for a bank theft he knew nothing about and nearly imprisoned.
MP for Neath from 1991-2015 and a Privy Councillor, he served in the UK Labour Government for 12 years, seven of these in the Cabinet.
He negotiated the 2007 settlement to end the conflict in Northern Ireland and was a Foreign Minister with successive responsibilities for Africa, the Middle East and Europe. He has chaired the United Nations Security Council and negotiated international treaties. He was also Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Secretary of State for Wales, Leader of the House of Commons and Energy Minister.
Author of 28 books, his latest is Liberation and Corruption: why freedom movements fail. His concise readable biography Mandela His Essential Life was published in 2018, his memoirs Outside In in 2012, and his anti-corruption thrillers The Rhino Conspiracy (2020) and its sequels The Elephant Conspiracy (2022) and The Lion Conspiracy (2024); also Fallout (2025). His South African memoir, A Pretoria Boy was published in 2021.
Married with two sons and seven grandchildren, he has degrees from Queen Mary University London and Sussex University. He has lived in South Wales for well over 30 years.