Who is this Black man with powerful friends?

I had to look twice when I saw the photo. Her Majesty the Queen was introducing important and powerful people to China’s President  Xi Jinping on his State visit to Buckingham Palace earlier today. Of course I noticed The Prime Minister and Prince Philip, but there in an elite group of seven or eight individuals, was this Black man, smartly dressed in high ranking officer attire.

But his face looks familiar too. Where do I know him from? Got it! The Black Power List. It’s my friend. Ken Olisa. Number 2 on the Powerlist and Chair of the Powerlist Foundation, which has in the last year secured some 39 million pounds to build a Powerlist Sixth form College. Well done Ken Olisa.

Such is the quiet humility of Olisa, I had no idea that in the interim seven months he’d become Her Majesty's Lord-Lieutenant for Greater London.

Of course that’s not only great for him but it’s also an inspired appointment. Today and future occasions when the world's dignitary come to visit Buckingham Palace on State visits this proud Black man stands as symbol of Britishness, no less as the Queens trusted Lord-Lieutenant.

Boy that picture has made my day.

Simon Woolley