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

Lammy has commented on the UK's history of slavery, both in his role as Culture Minister to mark the 200th anniversary of the end of the slave trade in Britain and because he suspects there were slaves amongst his ancestors.

Early life

Mr. Lammy was born in Tottenham, a working-class area of North London, to Guyanese parents and brought up by his mother after his father left the family. It is because of his single parent background why David Lammy has become one of the most vocal advocate's of positive parenting and has publicly called for fathers to be active and not absent in the lives of their children. David Lammy's project 'Black Fatherhood in the 21st Century' attempted to redefine and refocus the debate on fatherhood particularly within the black working class community, with the support of prominent black figures such as Kwame Kwei Armah, Sir Trevor McDonald, and Rev Nims Obunge . Through the 'Black Fatherhood in the 21st Century' project and being a leading figure in the Labour government's, REACH scheme , David Lammy MP has challenged the perception that there are few positive and high achieving Black men in Britain.

Education

Mr.Lammy won an Inner London Education Authority choral scholarship to The King's School, Peterborough. He then studied Law at one of London's most academic and specialist universities, the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. After obtaining a first class degree Mr.Lammy then went onto study a Master's degree at Harvard Law School (the first black Briton to do so) and is a member of Lincoln's Inn having been Called to the Bar of England and Wales in 1994.

Political career, 2000 - 2010

In 2000, he was elected as a Labour candidate on the London-wide list to the London Assembly. However, the sitting Member of Parliament for Tottenham Bernie Grant died during the campaign, and Lammy was selected to succeed him. He retained the seat, on a low turnout, in a by-election held on 22 June 2000, becoming the Baby of the House (the youngest MP). Mr. Lammy's electoral victory lead many to hail him as a future British Prime Minister in waiting . Not long after his election the RT. Hon. David Lammy MP was promoted to the government in 2002 and served at the Department for Constitutional Affairs from 2003 to 2005. Following the 2005 General Election, Lammy was appointed Minister for Culture under Tessa Jowell at the Department of Culture, Media and Sport.

Mr. Lammy has stated in speeches and articles that his vision for the arts in the UK is to move towards participation for all. In February 2006 he criticised the Arts Council of England leading to a conflict with its chairman.Daily Telegraph - The arts column: sinister shadow falls over arts funding

The Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills

On 29 June 2007, he was moved from Culture, Media and Sport to become a Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State in the newly created Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills, working under Secretary of State John Denham. He has been involved with trying to raise the number of University applicants in his constituency of Tottenham, an area where only a small proportion of school leavers go onto University. In October 2008 he was promoted to Minister of State and it was announced he would be appointed to the Privy Council. In the June 2009 reshuffle the department was abolished, being merged with the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform to form the new Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, under Lord Mandelson. Lammy was transferred to the department to continue his previous role as the Minister for Higher Education. The Rt. Hon. David Lammy MP was the Minister for Higher Education during a difficult period inwhich British universities were calling for increases in tuition fee's against the wishes of the student movement lead by the National Union of Students.

Post Blair & Brown - The Miliband Era

In the 2010 May elections Labour were removed from power leading to the resignation of Gordon Brown MP, with Ed Miliband MP being installed as Labour Leader after winning a long leadership contest. During the Labour leadership contest David Lammy MP nominated Diane Abbott, to allow the first Woman and Black Minority Ethnic candidate to run for leader of one of the main British political parties. Although finally supporting the early favourite David Miliband MP for leader, after the victory of David Miliband's brother, 1], Mr. Lammy rallied behind the new leader pledging his full support.

David Lammy MP rejected a job in the Shadow Cabinet offered by Ed Miliband stating the 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..

David Lammy MP has since been working hard for his constituents and has since spoken against rising inequality, homophobia, the disproportionate number of gambling shops in his constituency (With 6000 unemployed), and has criticised the Conservative Liberal Democrat coalition's removal of Educational Maintenance Allowance's (that supported the education of 3,689 teenagers in Mr. Lammy's borough), and is tackling unfairness in Higher Education.

Ken Livingstone's 2010 Campaign for the Labour Mayoral Candidacy

In 2010 calls for David Lammy MP to run for Mayor of London in 2012 created a momentum behind a possible campaign. However, Mr. Lammy pledged his support behind Ken Livingstone's bid to become the Labour London Mayoral candidate, declaring him 'London's Mayor in waiting' . Mr. Lammy became Livingstone's selection campaign chair.

Political controversy

On general election night in 2005 he controversially dubbed George Galloway MP, of the Respect party, a "carpetbagger", and said he had "come down from Scotland to whip up racial tensions". Galloway contested that his prior constituency in Scotland was dissolved and that he had a right to stand as a British MP wherever he had support.

Expenses claims

The Sir Thomas Legg inquiry cleared David of any over-claiming of his Parliamentary Allowances. . Lammy allowed local people to review his expense claims in May 2009.. David's full expenses are listed on the Parliament website .

Personal life

He is married to Nicola Green.

References

1. "Culture Minister David Lammy's Keynote Speech to 'Slavery: Unfinished Business' Conference".
2. "BBC News: Head-to-head: Slavery 'sorrow'". 27 November 2006. Retrieved 2 January 2010.
3. Time Out - London's slave trade
4. David Lammy's website
5. YouTube - Clip of BBC Election 2005 coverage
6. http://www.davidlammy.co.uk/sitedata/PDFS/151408.PDF
7. http://www.davidlammy.co.uk/opening_my_expenses_to_public_scrutiny
8. http://mpsallowances.parliament.uk/mpslordsandoffices/hocallowances/allowances-by-mp/david-lammy/
9. Curtis, Polly (18 November 2008). "High expectations". The Guardian. London.

External links

• David Lammy official website
• Guardian Unlimited Politics – Ask Aristotle: David Lammy MP
• Guardian Unlimited Politics – Analysis of Lammy's position on key votes
• TheyWorkForYou.com – David Lammy MP
• The Public Whip – David Lammy's voting record

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• 1972 births
• Alumni of the School of Oriental and African Studies
• Harvard Law School alumni
• Labour MPs (UK)
• Living people
• Labour Members of the London Assembly
• Members of the United Kingdom Parliament for English constituencies
• People from Harringay
• People from Tottenham
• UK MPs 1997–2001
• UK MPs 2001–2005
• UK MPs 2005–2010
• Black British politicians
• English people of Guyanese descent
• UK MPs 2010–