David Lammy

The Right Honourable David Lammy FRSA MP
Lammy in 2015
Minister of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills
In office 28 June 2007 – 11 May 2010
Prime Minister	Gordon Brown
Preceded by	Bill Rammell
Succeeded by	David Willetts (Universities and Science)
Minister of State for Culture
In office 5 May 2005 – 28 June 2007
Prime Minister	Tony Blair
Preceded by	Estelle Morris (Arts)
Succeeded by	Margaret Hodge (Culture and Tourism)
Member of Parliament for Tottenham
Incumbent
Assumed office 22 June 2000
Preceded by	Bernie Grant
Majority	23,564 (55.4%)
Member of the London Assembly At-large
In office 4 May 2000 – 4 July 2000
Preceded by	Constituency established
Succeeded by	Jennette Arnold
Personal details
Born	David Lindon Lammy (1972-07-19) 19 July 1972 London, England
Political party	Labour
Spouse(s)	Nicola Green
Alma mater	School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London Harvard University
Religion	Anglicanism
Website	www.davidlammy.co.uk

David Lindon Lammy FRSA MP^[1] (born 19 July 1972) is a British Labour Party politician, who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Tottenham since 2000.

Early life and education

Lammy was born in Tottenham, North London, to Guyanese parents^[2] David and Rosalind Lammy.^[3] He and his four siblings were brought up by his mother, after his father walked out on the family when he was 12. Lammy never saw him again, but has often spoken about the impact that this had on his life. Lammy advocates positive parenting, often speaking publicly about the importance of fathers and the need to support them in seeking to be active in the lives of their children. He chairs the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Fatherhood and has written frequently on the issue.^[4][5][6]

Lammy grew up in Tottenham, next to the Broadwater Farm estate. Having attended a local primary school, at the age of 10 he was awarded an Inner London Education Authority choral scholarship to sing at Peterborough Cathedral and be a pupil at The King's School, Peterborough – an event he has described as his 'X-Factor moment'.^[7] Growing up, Lammy worked in KFC and as a security guard to help the family get by. He studied at the School of Law, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, obtaining a first-class degree. Lammy went on to become the first black Briton to study at Harvard University when he won a place to study an LL.M. at Harvard Law School. He was called to the bar of England and Wales in 1994 at Lincoln's Inn that he had joined as a student member and practised as a barrister for several years.

Political career

In 2000 he was elected for Labour on the London-wide list to the London Assembly. During the London election campaign the sitting member for his home constituency of Tottenham, Bernie Grant, died and Lammy was selected as the Labour candidate. He was elected to the seat in a by-election held on 22 June 2000. Upon his election Lammy became the Baby of the House.

New Labour minister

In 2002 he became Parliamentary under-Secretary in the Department of Health. He was responsible for the introduction of the 4-hour target on A&E waiting times, leading to a significant decrease in waiting times. In 2003 Lammy was appointed as a Minister in the Department for Constitutional Affairs. As a member of the Government, he voted in favour of the authorization for Britain to invade Iraq in 2003. After the 2005 general election Lammy was appointed Minister for Culture at the Department of Culture, Media and Sport.

In June 2007 Lammy was appointed as a Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State in the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills. In this role Lammy introduced a new generation of apprenticeships, setting up the National Apprenticeship Service and National Apprenticeship Week and committing the Government to creating half a million new apprenticeships. He also established the Aimhigher scheme to get more young people from poor backgrounds into university. In October 2008 he was promoted to Minister of State and was appointed to the Privy Council. In June 2009 the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills was abolished and merged with the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform to form the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. Lammy continued in the new department in his previous role as the Minister for Higher Education.

Opposition backbencher

Lammy with Tottenham Labour Party members and others before joining the TUC Anti-Cuts March in March 2011

After Labour lost the 2010 general election a Labour Party leadership contest was announced. During the contest Lammy nominated Diane Abbott, explaining that he felt it was important to have a diverse field of candidates, but declared his support for David Miliband. After the election of Ed Miliband, Lammy pledged his full support for Miliband, though he turned down a post in the Shadow Cabinet offered by Miliband. He explained this decision by asserting a need to speak on a wide range of issues that would arise in his constituency due to the "large cuts in the public services" that his constituents rely on.^[8] Deciding instead to become a back-bench opposition MP. Lammy has opposed the Coalition Government's comprehensive spending review.

In 2010 there were suggestions that Lammy might stand for election as Mayor of London in 2012. Lammy pledged his support to Ken Livingstone's bid to become the Labour London Mayoral candidate, declaring him "London's Mayor in waiting".^[9] Lammy became Livingstone's selection campaign chair. In 2013 Lammy announced that he was considering entering the race to become Mayor of London in the 2016 election.

Lammy was one of 36 Labour MPs following the party's defeat in the 2015 general election to nominate Jeremy Corbyn as a candidate in the Labour leadership election of 2015.^[10]

London mayoral candidate

On 4 September 2014, Lammy announced his intention to seek the Labour nomination for the 2016 mayoral election.^[11] In the London Labour Party's selection process, he secured 9.4% of first preference votes and placed fourth overall, behind Sadiq Khan, Dame Tessa Jowell and Diane Abbott.

In March 2016, he was fined £5,000 after he instigated 35,629 calls without gaining permission to contact the party members concerned urging people to back his campaign. Lammy apologised "unreservedly" for breaking the rules of the Privacy and Electronic Communication Regulations.^[12] It was the first time a politician had been fined for authorising nuisance calls. ^[13]

Political comment

On 11 August 2011, in an address to Parliament, Lammy attributed part of the cause for England's riots of a few days earlier to three destructive 'culture's that had emerged under the prevailing policies: "A Grand Theft Auto culture that glamorises violence. A consumer culture fixated on the brands we wear, not who we are and what we achieve. A gang culture with warped notions of loyalty, respect and honour."^[14]

He has also suggested that corporal punishment of a kind currently illegal in Britain could have been used to prevent the riots.^[15]

Lammy has commented on Britain's history of slavery.^[16][17][18]

On 5 February 2013, Lammy gave a passionate speech in the House of Commons on why he would be voting in favour of the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill 2013, critically comparing the relegation of British same-sex couples to civil partnerships to the "separate but equal" legal doctrine which justified Jim Crow laws in the 20th-century United States. U.S. television host Lawrence O'Donnell praised Lammy's speech, relating it to Oscar Wilde's testimony on "the love that dare not speak its name" during his 1895 trial for sodomy and gross indecency.

On 12 March 2013, Lammy apologised for claiming the BBC made a "silly innuendo about the race of the next Pontiff".^[19] David Lammy was commenting on a BBC Twitter message, which asked "will smoke be black or white?" Mr Lammy, tweeting from the Commons chamber, said the BBC message was "crass and unnecessary". He later apologised after Twitter users pointed out the role played by black and white smoke in announcing the election of a new Pope.

On 26 January 2016, David Lammy claimed that 1 million Indians sacrificed their lives during the Second World War, not for the survival of Britain and to fight Nazism, but instead for the "European Project".^[20]

On 25 June 2016, after a majority voted to leave the European Union in a referendum, he urged Parliament to ignore the result.^[21] Eurosceptic journalist Rod Liddle suggested that this meant the votes that put Lammy into power could also be ignored.^[22][23]

Personal life

Lammy married the artist Nicola Green in 2005;^[3] the couple have two young sons.^[24]

In November 2011, he published a book – Out of the Ashes: Britain after the Riots – that serves as his account on the causes and consequences of the August 2011 riots.^[25]

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to David Lammy.

• Official website
• Profile at Parliament of the United Kingdom
• Contributions in Parliament at Hansard 1803–2005
• Current session contributions in Parliament at Hansard
• Voting record at Public Whip
• Record in Parliament at TheyWorkForYou
• Profile at Westminster Parliamentary Record
• Articles authored at Journalisted