David Lammy

Why you should listen

David Lammy has been the Labour Member of Parliament for his hometown of Tottenham, United Kingdom, since 2000. He was appointed Shadow Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs in 2021, after previously serving as the Labour Party's Shadow Secretary of State for Justice -- the first Black MP to hold this post in British Parliament, either in government or opposition. Lammy previously led an independent review of the criminal justice system, exploring the treatment of and outcomes for Black and minority ethnic people in British courts and prisons, ultimately recommending 35 wide-ranging policy changes. During the Blair and Brown Labour governments from 2002 to 2010, he served as Culture Minister, Higher Education Minister and was a member of the Privy Council.
Lammy's parents moved to the UK from Guyana as part of the more than half a million people who moved from the Caribbean to Britain following World War II, known as the "Windrush generation." He is renowned for his role in securing justice for the victims of the Windrush Scandal as well as the victims of London's Grenfell Tower Fire, winning both GQ's and the Political Studies Association's Politician of the Year awards in 2018. He is also known for pushing for more equal access to university and demanding the decolonization of education curriculums and international aid. Lammy explores these issues and more in Tribes: How Our Need to Belong Can Make or Break Society, his book on both the benign and malign effects of our very human need to belong.