From Global Diplomacy to Leaking Courthouses
David Lammy has swapped the trappings of global diplomacy for the joys of leaking court lavatories and backlogged justice. The former foreign secretary is now justice secretary, taking on a role that’s less about international summits and more about fractured legal aid, crumbling court estates, and prisons stuffed to the rafters.
The Tottenham MP, 53, is no stranger to the brief. Before being parachuted into the Foreign Office, Lammy had already cut his teeth as shadow justice secretary.
The Lammy Takeaway
Lammy’s return to law is less coronation than crucible. If he fails to fix the justice system, no amount of Harvard polish will matter
A law graduate of SOAS with a Harvard master’s, he spent three years in American law firms before being called to the Bar at Lincoln’s Inn. That CV may look good on the Cabinet Office noticeboard, but the daily grind of discontented barristers and overstretched judges will test his political stamina far more than handshakes in Washington ever did.
Some in Westminster say Lammy’s consolation prize — the deputy prime ministership — will do little to soften the comedown from his former global stage.
The reality is that this is a brutal gig. Legal aid is a mess, the courts are creaking, and prisons are nearing capacity. Still, he can cling to one silver lining: UK legal services exports are up 44 percent in four years. That might let him keep at least a hint of international glamour while knee-deep in domestic dysfunction.
Meanwhile, fallout continues from the Legal Aid Agency cyber hack earlier this year. And Lammy inherits a Ministry of Justice where his predecessor, Shabana Mahmood, clipped the wings of the Sentencing Council — leaving Lammy to decide whether the quango deserves revival or burial.
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