The Rt Hon David Lammy MP

Biography

David Lammy was appointed Lord Chancellor, Secretary of State for Justice and Deputy Prime Minister on 5 September 2025. He was previously Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs between 5 July 2024 and 5 September 2025. David was first elected as Labour MP for Tottenham at the age of 27 in June 2000.

David studied law at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) Law School and Harvard Law School. He was admitted to the Bar of England and Wales in 1994.

David was appointed the Shadow Foreign Secretary in November 2021. He was previously the Shadow Secretary of State for Justice and the Shadow Lord Chancellor.

David served as a minister in the Labour government from 2001 to 2010 and was made a Privy Councillor in 2008. He was in several departments, including the Department of Health and the Department for Constitutional Affairs. He was Culture Minister at the Department of Culture, Media and Sport and Higher Education and Intellectual Property Minister at the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills.

In 2016 to 2017, David led an independent review into treatment and outcomes of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) people in the criminal justice system. He is the author of ‘Out of the ashes: Britain after the riots’ on the causes of the London 2011 riots, and ‘Tribes: how our need to belong can make or break society’ (2020).

David is on the Advisory Board for the European Council on Foreign Relations and is President of the British and Foreign School Society. He is also an Associate Tenant Barrister at Doughty Street Chambers and a Professor in Practice at London School of Economics and the School of Oriental and African Studies.

Follow the Foreign Secretary on social media: @DavidLammy on X/Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram.

Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice

Oversight of all portfolios, policy, and Ministry of Justice strategy
Oversight of cross-cutting emergency issues, responses supported by other ministers according to portfolio
Oversight of international business and future relations with the EU
MoJ support for the Union.
Resourcing of the department
Functions of the Lord Chancellor
Judicial policy including pay, pensions and diversity (these and other operational decisions affecting the judiciary are reserved to the Lord Chancellor)
Corporate services

More about this role

Ministry of Justice