David Lammy | |||||||||||||||||||
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.jpg) Official portrait, 2024 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs | |||||||||||||||||||
| Assumed office 5 July 2024 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Prime Minister | Keir Starmer | ||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | David Cameron | ||||||||||||||||||
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| Member of Parliament for Tottenham | |||||||||||||||||||
| Assumed office 22 June 2000 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Bernie Grant | ||||||||||||||||||
| Majority | 15,434 (38.4%) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Member of the London Assembly as the 10th Additional Member | |||||||||||||||||||
| In office 4 May 2000 – 4 July 2000 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Office established | ||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Jennette Arnold | ||||||||||||||||||
| Personal details | |||||||||||||||||||
| Born | David Lindon Lammy 19 July 1972 Holloway, London, England | ||||||||||||||||||
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| Political party | Labour | ||||||||||||||||||
| Spouse | |||||||||||||||||||
| Children | 3 | ||||||||||||||||||
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| Occupation |
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| Signature |  | ||||||||||||||||||
| Website | www | ||||||||||||||||||
David Lindon Lammy (born 19 July 1972) is a British politician who has served as Foreign Secretary of the United Kingdom since July 2024.[2] A member of the Labour Party, he has been member of parliament (MP) for Tottenham since 2000. Lammy previously held various junior ministerial positions under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown between 2002 and 2010.
Born in Holloway, Lammy attended The King's School, Peterborough. He studied law at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London and was called to the bar in 1994. He later studied for a Master of Laws degree at Harvard University, becoming the first black Briton to study at Harvard Law School. In 2000, Lammy briefly served in the London Assembly before being elected to Parliament in the 2000 Tottenham by-election. Tony Blair appointed him Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Public Health in 2002 and Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs in 2003. He was promoted to Minister of State for Culture in 2005. In 2007, Gordon Brown appointed him Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills before Lammy served as Minister of State for Higher Education from 2008 to 2010.
Following Labour's defeat in the 2010 general election, Lammy endorsed David Miliband in the 2010 Labour leadership election and subsequently declined to serve in Ed Miliband's Shadow Cabinet. He then spent the next decade on the backbenches, and was a candidate in the 2015 London Labour Party mayoral selection but ultimately finished fourth. Lammy endorsed Keir Starmer in the 2020 Labour leadership election and was appointed Shadow Secretary of State for Justice and Shadow Lord Chancellor in Starmer's Shadow Cabinet. In the November 2021 Shadow Cabinet reshuffle, he was promoted to Shadow Foreign Secretary.
Following Labour's victory in the 2024 general election, Lammy returned to government and was appointed foreign secretary by Starmer in his new government. He has supported Ukraine in its war against Russia and Israel in its war against Hamas, but has also called for an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
- ^ Ram, Ryan (12 September 2017). "David Lammy is Proud of his Guyanese Roots!". The West Indian Online. Archived from the original on 28 February 2024.
- ^ "Ministerial Appointments: July 2024". GOV.UK. Retrieved 5 July 2024.