Brexit? Time for bitterness and rancour to end

From challenging China to ending divisions on Europe, David Lammy tells Alexandra Jones what UK foreign policy would look like under Labour

- Alexandra Jones

DAVID Lammy is on jubilant form, more so on this grey February morning in his sparse Westminster office than ever before. To be fair, previous to this, the only times I’ve encountered him have been when he was giving talks in his constituency. He was in his ‘social justice warrior’ era back then. In recent months the Labour MP for Tottenham and shadow foreign secretary has been debuting a new persona: diplomatic Lammy.

After years in the political wilderness, Labour is finally starting to become a player again — although not really for anything the party itself did. “The truth is the tempo has gone up considerably since September…since the whole Truss economics debacle.”

In the weeks before we meet, Lammy is everywhere — his speech at Chatham House in January set out Labour’s stall on foreign policy. And people have paid attention because many expect him to be foreign secretary by 2024. “It’s just nice to be of interest again, after 13 years in opposition,” he says. Given a mandate, Labour would ‘reconnect’ Britain to the rest of the world, take on China, get Brexit done (or undone-ish, depending on how hard you like your Brexit).