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The Right Honourable David Lammy MP
MP David Lammy posing with an early medieval skillet at the Museum of London.
Minister of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills
In office 5 October 2008 – 11 May 2010
Prime Minister	Gordon Brown
Preceded by	Bill Rammell
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills
In office 28 June 2007 – 5 October 2008
Prime Minister	Gordon Brown
Preceded by	Unknown
Succeeded by	Sion Simon
Member of Parliament for Tottenham
Incumbent
Assumed office 22 June 2000
Preceded by	Bernie Grant
Majority	13,034 (41.2%)
Member of the London Assembly for the Labour Party (London-wide)
In office 4 May 2000 – July 2000
Preceded by	New constituency
Succeeded by	Jennette Arnold
Personal details
Born	(1972-07-19) 19 July 1972 (age 52) Tottenham
Nationality	British
Political party	Labour
Spouse	Nicola Green
Alma mater	School of Oriental and African Studies, Harvard Law School

David Lindon Lammy (born 19 July 1972) is a British Labour politician, who has been the Member of Parliament 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

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.

Education

Lammy won an Inner London Education Authority choral scholarship to The King's School, Peterborough. He then studied Law at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London followed by 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

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). He 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.

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.

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 Secretary of State Lord Mandelson. Lammy was transferred to the department to continue his previous role.

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 .

Trivia

Lammy appeared on the British TV programme Mastermind over Christmas 2008. He scored 8 points on his specialist subject, Muhammed Ali, and performed poorly in the general knowledge round, gaining a total of 13 points.

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. Daily Telegraph - The arts column: sinister shadow falls over arts funding
6. YouTube - Clip of BBC Election 2005 coverage
7. http://www.davidlammy.co.uk/sitedata/PDFS/151408.PDF
8. http://www.davidlammy.co.uk/opening_my_expenses_to_public_scrutiny
9. http://mpsallowances.parliament.uk/mpslordsandoffices/hocallowances/allowances-by-mp/david-lammy/

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

• 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