The looming dangers of Labour’s Lammy to Brexit Britain
Facts4EU.Org examines how the new global face of the UK will appear to the rest of the world
Montage © Facts4EU.Org 2024
The new Foreign Secretary heads abroad carrying some very heavy baggage
All around the world, the staff in foreign offices will have been preparing written briefs for their ministers on Brexit Britain’s new Foreign Secretary, David Lammy. Facts4EU.Org takes a look at what these advisory briefs are likely to have said and at how this might impact the UK’s reputation globally.
To anyone who has followed Mr Lammy’s many strange pronouncements over the years, it will come as no surprise that his first foreign visit was not to the UK’s No.1 trading partner, (the United States), nor to any of our Commonwealth partners. Instead he chose Berlin.
Lammy matters, because…
The United Kingdom’s power and influence has always been severely understated by Remainer-Rejoiners – and David Lammy has been one of the loudest voices in this group.
The fact is – despite Brexit – the UK is the sixth largest economic power in the world, one its five official nuclear powers with the most powerful weaponry in Europe, a permanent member of the UN Security Council, and it exerts huge influence culturally and from educating many of the world’s leaders.
Hard and soft power.
Straight from the horse’s mouth
For someone who for years held the Shadow Foreign Secretary ticket and who no doubt dreamt of his new role leading the UK’s diplomatic efforts around the globe, Mr Lammy has made a great many maladroit comments. Below we present just a small selection.
Brexit Facts4EU.Org Summary
‘How to lose friends and alienate people’ - a Facts4EU.Org user’s guide to David Lammy
Lammy’s first foreign trip
Just two days after the election, the new British Foreign Secretary travelled to Germany for his inaugural visit. At the meeting with Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens), the Labour politician announced a rapprochement with the EU. "We are examining with the new British government, how the UK can come back closer to the EU," the Federal Foreign Office announced in Berlin after the visit on Saturday.
On Nigel Farage MP, Leader of Reform UK
“Wants to drag us into the gutter.”
On more than half the electorate, who voted to leave the EU
Lammy has never wavered in his campaigning for British membership of the European Union. On 23 June 2018, he was one of the most prominent speakers at a ‘People's Vote’ march. This campaign was specifically designed to overturn the largest democratic vote in British history. Lammy has never accepted it.
On the likely future President of the United States – “This tyrant in a toupée”
Lammy once called Donald Trump a "Nazi sympathizer" and threatened to chain himself to No. 10 ahead of the President’s UK visit to the UK. [Source : Die Zeit, 2017.]
“Trump is not only a woman-hating, neo-Nazi-sympathising sociopath, he is also a profound threat to the international order that has been the foundation of Western progress for so long… I will be one of tens of thousands on the streets, protesting against our government’s capitulation to this tyrant in a toupée.” [Source : Time Magazine, 2018.]
“Donald Trump is an enemy of democracy. Every British politician who failed to condemn his actions after the presidential election should issue an apology tonight.”
“Donald Trump’s entire presidency has been a reign of recklessness, narcissism and delusion.” [Telegraph, May 2024.]
On the world’s migrant crisis
Lammy voted not to make it an offence to help an asylum-seeker enter the UK even where that help is provided "for gain" and not to make it an offence to help an asylum-seeker if there is a "reasonable excuse" for helping. [Source : Hansard, 20 Apr 2022.]
On aligning the UK back with the EU on defence
“We said in our manifesto we wanted an ambitious security pact, and that’s because we have been speaking to Europe [the EU – Ed] about this for the last few years, and I think there is an appetite … to go broader than just defence.
“So you have to obviously get into discussions with Europe [the EU – Ed] and find those issues of mutual interest. My hope is that once, of course, the new European leadership is in place, we can progress this with a joint declaration of some kind.” [Guardian, 07 Jul 2024.]
On locking down the country
“During this coronavirus pandemic, we need to temporarily sacrifice our liberty to save lives – and our struggling NHS.”
“First, Johnson should announce an urgent enforced lockdown in areas which are highly affected by the virus, including London.”
“The urgent introduction of mass testing, alongside case isolation and contact tracing, is just as vital.”
“An enforced lockdown in London, and other hotspots, will rightly discomfort anyone with even the faintest liberal disposition…. But…. Us Londoners must be prepared to temporarily sacrifice our liberty to save lives.” [Writing for the Guardian, 23 Mar 2020.]
On leaders he doesn’t like
“We don’t want the xenophobia of Farage and Le Pen in our country. We must stand up to them and their toxic views. First America, now Le Pen.” [2017]
“Malevolent figures like … Donald Trump, Nigel Farage and Marine Le Pen want to drag us into the gutter.” [2018]
On Israel and the arrest warrant for its Prime Minister
“International law must be upheld.” [Statement after the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court called for a warrant to be issued for the arrest of Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, for alleged war crimes.]
“Of course, the Palestinian people deserve a state and if they don’t, the consequence of that is either one state in which Benjamin Netanyahu would have to explain how Palestinians and Israelis live side-by-side with equal rights, or no state, in which what he’s really saying is occupation and siege continues.” [2024]
On gender politics and “What is a woman?”
"It's probably the case that trans women don't have ovaries but a cervix, I understand, is something you can have following various procedures and hormone treatments". [LBC interview, Labour Party Conference, Sep 29, 2021.]
On his profound ignorance of history
"Churchill replaced Chamberlain just days before the Second World War." [BBC interview, 22 Apr 2022.]
WWII began in September 1939. Churchill replaced Chamberlain in May 1940, some 8 months after the war began.
And finally, on the Pope
The ignorance of this final quote is simply unbelievable. During the selection of the Pope, the BBC tweeted: “LIVE VIDEO: Chimney of Sistine Chapel as #conclave votes for #Pope – will smoke be black or white?”
Lammy replied: “This tweet from the BBC is crass and unnecessary. Do we really need silly innuendo about the race of the next Pope?” [Source : Twitter, March 2013.]
Observations
Like him or loathe him, David Lammy is now the ‘face of Brexit Britain’ to governments around the world. What he says and does matters, as he is representing the United Kingdom on the global stage.
We can only hope that now he holds one of the great offices of state, he reads and absorbs his briefs, and avoids speaking ‘on the hoof’ with the kind of gaffes he has become known for.
A word about power
No other country in the world transfers power as seamlessly from one government to the next, following a general election. Senior civil servants are well-practised in this art, with briefing papers drafted weeks or months in advance, ready for the incoming ministers.
In many cases countries go through months, (even years in Belgium’s case), of haggling and horse-trading before they come close to forming a new government. In the United Kingdom the Monarch summons the leader of the party with the most votes and invites him to form a government. This happens within hours of the result of the general election being declared.
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[ Sources: Twitter | Media interviews and statements ] Politicians and journalists can contact us for details, as ever.
Brexit Facts4EU.Org, Wed 10 Jul 2024
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