David Lammy, the son of Guyanese immigrants who grew up in poverty in working-class London, was appointed Britain’s top diplomat on Friday, taking charge of British foreign policy at a time of great challenge.
Mr Lammy, 51, has strong ties to the United States, spending summers with relatives in Brooklyn and Queens and earning his master’s degree from Harvard Law School.
He met Barack Obama 20 years ago at a gathering of black Harvard alumni, and this year he dined with the former US president when Obama visited London. Lammy campaigned in Chicago for Obama during his first presidential campaign, and he has built up an extensive network of contacts within the Democratic Party.
In an essay in the magazine Foreign Affairs published in April, Mr Lammy wrote that he would focus on reconstruction ties with the European Unionwho were under pressure from Britain’s decision to leave the bloc, and that his priority was to support Ukraine.
“Above all, the UK must continue to support Ukraine,” he wrote. “The future of European security depends on the outcome of the war there, and the British government must leave the Kremlin in no doubt that it will support Kiev for as long as it takes to achieve victory.”
The Labour Party has said its commitment to NATO is “unwavering” and has pledged to increase its military spending from 2.2 percent to 2.5 percent of gross domestic product “as quickly as we can.” On the war in Gaza, the party has said it will push for an immediate ceasefire and the release of Israeli hostages held there.
In an interview with The New York Times this year, Mr Lammy said that if he were given the privilege of becoming foreign secretary, he would be “very aware that I would be the first — it almost makes me emotional to say it — the first foreign secretary who is a descendant of enslaved people.”
