Few British politicians have as deep a connection to the United States as David Lamy. He will become Britain’s foreign secretary if the opposition Labor party wins the upcoming election, as polls suggest.
son Guyana Immigration who grew up in poverty working class londonAfterwards, he spent summers with relatives in Brooklyn and Queens, worked at Consolidated Edison, then earned a master’s degree at Harvard Law School, where he became friends with Barack Obama and campaigned on his first presidential campaign. During this period, he canvassed votes for him in Chicago.
Now, however, Lamy, who is about to become Britain’s chief diplomat, finds himself facing an uncertain and possibly hostile American political landscape. President Biden and Democrats have developed a deep network of ties to Lamy and are working to thwart the resurgence of Donald J. Trump.
After being selected by the leader of the Labor Party, Keir StarmerLamy, 51, is busy connecting with Republicans and, more challenging, those around Trump, in part because of his transatlantic credentials. This is a very different American establishment than the Democratic Party he knows.
Will Mr Lamy visit Mr Trump’s Palm Beach estate Mar-a-Lago, as David Cameron, Britain’s current foreign secretary, has done? two weeks ago Lobbying the former president for military aid to Ukraine?
“Absolutely,” he said in an interview this week at Portdeley House, the parliamentary building opposite Big Ben. Noting that he would soon travel to New York and Washington, he said, “I would be happy to talk to whoever the American people decide they want to run this country.”
This is a time-tested answer for any foreign politician in a U.S. election year, especially one from a party that has already held an election. Double-digit poll lead More than 18 months of Conservative rule. But unlike many Europeans who are both frightened and confused by Trump, Lamy appears to genuinely believe he can find common ground with those around him.
He has held meetings with former Trump officials, such as Mike Pompeowho served as Secretary of State and Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, and Robert O’Brien, who was Mr. Trump’s last national security adviser. He also developed a relationship with Ohio Republican Senator J.D. Vance, Passionate Trump converts.
Mr. Vance’s best-selling memoir “Hillbilly Elegy”, he said, drawing parallels with his own story of growing up with a single mother and an absentee alcoholic father in Tottenham, where race riots engulfed the streets. Mr Lammy’s memoir is titled Ashes Reborn,” he said. Mr. Vance’s book “brought tears to my eyes.”
“I said to J.D., ‘Look, we have different political views, but we are both very strong Christians and we both had a tough upbringing,'” said Mr. Lammy, who will become the UK’s first official after James The two black foreign secretaries are smart and conservative.
The challenge for Mr. Lamy is to share more with Mr. Obama, who preceded him at Harvard by several years. The two met 20 years ago at a black alumni gathering where Mr. Obama had dinner. visited london last month. Mr. Obama’s Washington office hangs with a portrait of the former president created by Mr. Lammy’s wife, Nicola Green, an artist who chronicle his 2008 campaign.
Benjamin J. Rhodes, one of Mr. Obama’s former advisers, introduced Mr. Lamy to other Democratic lawmakers and they became friends. He predicted that if a Labor government and a second Biden administration come to power, “you will see a more consistent relationship between the United States and the United Kingdom.”
But Rhodes said Lamy’s gregarious attitude and pragmatic approach to politics will at least give him a chance against the Trump administration. “I think he believed that through the power of personality he could develop relationships within that circle,” Mr. Rhodes said.
For now, Mr Lamy is determined not to offend again. Asked about Mr Trump’s recent remarks that he would tell the Russians “no matter what they wantMr Lamy seized on the reference to burden-sharing for any NATO member not paying its fair share of alliance costs.
“Is Donald Trump right?” he said. “100%.”
Mr Lamy said too many NATO countries still fell short of the alliance’s target of military spending equal to 2% of gross domestic product (Britain’s military spending is about 2.2%). Labor has vowed to increase this to 2.5 per cent, and Mr Lammy accused the Conservatives of reducing the size of Britain’s armed forces to a size not seen since Napoleonic times.
“I recognize Donald Trump’s ability to use words to focus his thoughts,” he said.
Other Labor veterans have no illusions about the chemistry between the Labor government and Mr Trump.former president Clash with Theresa MayConservative Prime Minister, despite his better relationship with Boris Johnson and praising current Prime Minister Rishi Sunak for seeking Downplaying UK climate targets. A few years before his visit to Mar-a-Lago, Mr Cameron said Mr Trump had threatened to ban Muslims from entering the US “divisiveness, stupidity and mistakes“.
“The Trump administration will be very difficult for the Labor government, but it will also be very difficult for Rishi Sunak’s government,” said Jonathan Powell, a former chief of staff to Labor Prime Minister Tony Blair. )express.
With the transatlantic relationship at risk of turmoil, Mr Lamy is highlighting Britain’s own neighbours.in a new Article in Diplomacy Magazine He has developed a foreign policy based on what he calls “progressive realism” and says Britain needs to focus on rebuilding its security relationship with the EU, which has shrunk after Brexit.
Regardless of whether Biden or Trump wins in November, repairing ties with Europe will be necessary, Lamy said, as the United States increasingly focuses on competition with China.
“For this reason, Britain must play its part in Europe,” Lamy said, adding that Labor was better positioned than the Conservatives to rebuild trust amid Europe’s skepticism of Brexiteers such as Johnson. “Europe is eager to turn a new page. The United States is eager for Britain to turn a new page.”
While the United States and Britain have divergent strategic priorities, they remain at odds in areas of conflict such as the Middle East. British and US warplanes have joined forces to help repel an Iranian air attack on Israel.
Britain’s position on the Israel-Gaza war is aligned with that of the United States, with Labor largely aligned with the Conservatives despite pressure from the Labor left to take a tougher stance on Israel. Lamy described conditions in Gaza as “hell on earth” but stopped short of calling on Britain to suspend arms sales to Israel, as legal experts and some members of parliament have done.
While Lamy said he was “very concerned” that Israel might violate international law, which would lead to a suspension of arms exports, he did not want to make a decision before government lawyers issued a verdict.
“I am also very aware that Keir Starmer and I may become public officials in the coming weeks,” Mr Lammy said. He pointed to speculation that Mr Sunak might become a public official if the Conservatives suffered a heavy defeat in local elections in early May. hold general election.
As he pondered that possibility, Mr. Lamy’s thoughts returned to the United States, where he said the struggles of civil rights leaders such as the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Mr. Obama’s election symbolized a distortion of morality. The arc of racial justice has also transformed Britain.
“If I am lucky enough to become foreign minister,” he said, “I know very well that I will be the first — and this almost thrills me — the first foreign minister to be a descendant of enslaved people.”
