David Lammy

The Right Honourable David Lammy MP FRSA
Official portrait, 2024
Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs
Incumbent
Assumed office 5 July 2024
Prime Minister	Keir Starmer
Preceded by	David Cameron
Junior ministerial offices Minister of State 2008–2010 Higher Education and Intellectual Property 2005–2007 Culture Parliamentary under-secretary of state 2007–2008 Innovation, Universities and Skills 2003–2005 Constitutional Affairs 2002–2003 Public Health
Shadow portfolios Shadow Secretary of State 2021–2024 Shadow Foreign Secretary 2020–2021 Justice Shadow Minister 2010–2010 Universities and Science
Member of Parliament for Tottenham
Incumbent
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 (1972-07-19) 19 July 1972 (age 52) Holloway, London, England
Citizenship	United Kingdom Guyana[1]
Political party	Labour
Spouse	Nicola Green ​ (m. 2005)​
Children	3
Education	SOAS University of London (LLB) Harvard University (LLM)
Occupation	Politician lawyer lecturer presenter
Signature
Website	www.davidlammy.co.uk
Lammy's voice Lammy describing White Hart Lane in 2012

David Lindon Lammy (born 19 July 1972) is an English politician and lawyer^[discuss] 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.