David Lammy has been stripped of his job as foreign secretary but is still set to play a crucial role managing the White House
David Lammy will continue to play a central role in the UK’s relationship with Donald Trump despite losing his job as foreign secretary, The i Paper understands.
Lammy was appointed Justice Secretary in Friday’s dramatic Government reshuffle, which came after the resignation of Angela Rayner over a controversy surrounding her tax affairs.
He also replaced Rayner as Deputy Prime Minister, a move seen as crucial to US-UK relations by making him a direct counterpart to his unlikely friend, Vice President JD Vance.
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Lammy has been widely seen as a lynchpin in the relationship between Sir Keir Starmer’s Government and the Trump administration, striking up a friendship with Vance which saw the pair holidaying together this summer at Lammy’s home in Kent.
A Foreign Office insider said that he will continue to play a crucial role in managing Trump-Starmer relations in his new role as Deputy PM.
But Lammy continuing to bridge the UK and the White House could cause tensions with his replacement as foreign secretary, Yvette Cooper, a Labour source has warned.
Lammy’s new job a ‘sensible’ move to stay close to the White House
Despite their ideological differences – and Lammy’s stinging description of Trump as a “woman-hating, neo-Nazi-sympathising sociopath” in 2018 – the pair have bonded over their Christian faith and working-class upbringing.
“I have to say that I really have become a good friend, and David has become a good friend of mine,” Vance said of Lammy. “Our families enjoy each other’s company very much, which always helps.”
Olivia O’Sullivan, director of the UK in the World Programme at Chatham House, said Lammy’s new role as Deputy PM could be a “sensible” move to allow him to leverage his relationship with Vance.
“Personal relationships clearly matter to the Trump administration, and Lammy did build up – over time, even before the election – this relationship with Vance,” she said.
Lammy and Vance have built an unexpectedly close relationship despite their differing ideologies (Photo: Kin Cheung/Reuters)
“The British system often involves these reshuffles, when other countries will have people really consistently in place as a foreign secretary. That can be disruptive, but if the Government’s response to that is to keep using those personal relationships, regardless of where people sit in government, and ensuring that they can still be built on, that is sensible.”
Dr David Anderson, an expert in US politics at the University of Durham, said that Trump “does prioritise personal relationships, and tends not to pay much attention to the internal politics of other nations”.
“I am sure that Lammy will continue a close relationship with Vice President Vance, and that will likely be the main conduit to interacting between the two administrations,” he said.
New Foreign Secretary called Trump a misogynist
But continuing to use Lammy as a bridge between the US and UK could cause “tensions” within the Foreign Office under Cooper, one Labour insider said.
“It appears to be a demotion for Yvette, because one of your most important foreign relationships is sitting elsewhere,” they said.
“She is a good negotiator, but she’s been home affairs focused for two decades, and has little experience elsewhere.”
Tensions may be exacerbated by Cooper’s previous criticism of Trump, accusing him of “aggressive misogyny”, violent language towards Hillary Clinton, Islamophobia, xenophobia and hatred.
Yvette Cooper moved to the Foreign Office from the Home Office on Friday, and will now be tasked with building her own relationship with the White House (Photo: House of Commons/AFP)
In a speech to the Fabian Society in 2017, shortly after he was first inaugurated, Cooper said Trump had “built his campaign for the presidency on vitriol and abuse”.
“Mr President is using 140 characters each day [on Twitter, now X] to undermine the safeguards in democracy. This is the bully pulpit of the most powerful man on the planet, broadcast direct to millions of people.”
O’Sullivan said that a “lot of Labour figures have said things about Trump in the past, including Lammy”, so there is no indication Cooper can’t build a similar bond – providing she treads carefully.
“Trump can be very unpredictable. It seems like he doesn’t hold on to things like that,” she said.
“This Government’s strategy has been to tread this very careful line: they don’t respond to everything Trump says; they don’t criticise in public; they employ quite a lot of flattery.”
Dr Melanie Garson, an international security expert at UCL, said that figures including ambassador to the US Peter Mandelson were likely to be more influential than Cooper on the White House.
“She will likely have to engage in some significant overtures to build her profile with both Trump and Vance and may find common ground on previous record having voted for US military engagement against Isis, etc,” Garson said.
“It remains a lesson to all though on being careful in regards to digital use.”
Garson said that the most likely points of strain on the US-UK relationship for Cooper are the Hamas-Israel conflict, Ukraine and China, but that “Mandelson’s role will be significant”.
“Ukraine will likely be handled through [the Ministry of] Defence than through Yvette Cooper. So whilst she will be taking on the role, the key points of contention have other expertise allocated to it that can stabilise the relationship.”
Dr Patrick Gill-Tiney, an international relations fellow at the London School of Economics, said the Prime Minister “must have weighed up the costs” of appointing Cooper – and may have found it difficult to pick someone who has not criticised Trump.
“She has a reputation, I think, for being effective and tough – qualities that she will require given the upcoming move to recognise Palestine,” he said. “Given that issue, her prior criticisms may be pretty irrelevant.”