Your guide to the department's cast of ministerial characters, and what’s in their in-trays
Shortly after being appointed as foreign secretary, David Lammy told a gathering of Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office staff that he wanted to use his cabinet position to “deliver progress”, not just hold office. He said the task facing the FCDO was to “recapture Britain’s restless energy” and reconnect the nation to the world.
“I am a progressive realist. I believe in change and I believe in our power to reshape international institutions,” Lammy said. “But I am not naive about the limits of power.”
Lammy grew up in Tottenham, north London. His childhood talent as a chorister saw him awarded a scholarship to attend King’s School in Peterborough, where he became the school’s first black head boy. He has law degrees from both the University of London’s School of Oriental and African Studies and Harvard, and practised as a litigation lawyer in California before becoming MP for Tottenham in 2000 at the age of 27.
From 2002 to 2010, Lammy held a succession of ministerial posts in the governments of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, latterly serving as a minister of state in the then-department for Business, Innovation and Skills. Labour leader Keir Starmer made him shadow foreign secretary in September 2021.
A vocal opponent of Brexit, Lammy described the outcome of 2016’s referendum as a “swindle” and “a fraud” that was “fundamentally won on false premises and lies with Russian interference”. Lammy rebelled against a three-line whip and opposed the triggering of Article 50 in 2017.
“I believe in change and I believe in our power to reshape international institutions” David Lammy
Lammy nominated Jeremy Corbyn for the Labour Party leadership in 2015, even though he did not plan to support Corbyn’s bid. He later apologised for the decision.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Lammy is a supporter of Tottenham Hotspur FC.
The new government has pledged increased focus on fostering positive diplomatic relations with Europe. It also made manifesto commitments to strengthen the role of development work in the department, specifically supporting economic transformation, tackling unsustainable debt, empowering women and girls, supporting conflict prevention and unlocking climate finance.
Labour has a stated aim of returning to spending 0.7% of gross national income on international development work – a commitment dumped by the Johnson administration in 2021. Labour has not set a timescale for its ambition. It says international development spending will be stepped up “as soon as fiscal circumstances allow”.
Lammy’s ministerial team at the FCDO includes minister of state Anneliese Dodds, whose brief includes development and climate change as well as education, gender and equality – a neat tie-in with her other role as minister for women and equalities in the education department.
Another minister of state, Stephen Doughty, holds the Europe, North America and Overseas Territories brief.
A quartet of parliamentary under-secretaries of state complete the team: Catherine West, (who covers the Indo-Pacific), Lord Ray Collins (Africa) Baroness Jennifer Chapman (Latin America and the Caribbean) and Hamish Falconer (Middle East, Afghanistan and Pakistan).
Falconer is a former civil servant and son of New Labour justice secretary Lord Charlie Falconer. First elected as an MP in July, he previously led the Foreign Office’s Terrorism Response Team and UK efforts to start a peace process in Afghanistan.
Read up on ministers in other departments here