David Lammy has been accused of undermining Britain’s ability to build ties with strategic allies because of his “sixth form” jibes about foreign leaders.
The Foreign Secretary has for years made controversial comments on social media that are now rebounding on the Government as he and Sir Keir Starmer make important trips abroad.
He caused diplomatic problems for the Prime Minister this week because of his past support for considering slavery reparations, which was brought up by Commonwealth nations as they used a summit in Samoa to call for such payments from the UK.
Now there are fears that Mr Lammy’s outspoken comments about world leaders will further embarrass the Government in the coming weeks as a series of key events loom in the diary.
The first test will come on Nov 5 with the US presidential election, when Donald Trump may well be re-elected to the White House.
Mr Lammy has in the past described Mr Trump as a “woman-hating, neo-Nazi sympathising sociopath” and “no friend of Britain”.
If he wins, it will be Mr Lammy’s job to make sure the Republican is a friend of Britain and to smooth over the Trump camp’s fury about Labour activists campaigning for Kamala Harris.
Two days later, on Nov 7, the Foreign Secretary is expected to attend a meeting of the European Political Community, the 47-member group set up in 2022 in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
It will be hosted by Hungary, whose prime minister, Viktor Orban, has repeatedly been the subject of Mr Lammy’s ire in the past.
In 2018 the Labour MP described Mr Orban as “far-Right, anti-Semitic and Islamophobic”. In the same year, he accused Theresa May of making “a deal with the devil” when Tory MEPs backed Mr Orban in a crucial European Parliament vote.
In 2020 he accused Mr Orban of “dismantling democracy” in Hungary and said it was “dangerous” for Boris Johnson’s government to support him. Then in 2021, Mr Lammy accused Mr Johnson of having “twisted priorities” by hosting the Hungarian leader at No 10.
Alicia Kearns, the shadow foreign affairs minister and former chairman of the foreign affairs select committee, is among those who fear that Mr Lammy’s past comments will damage Britain’s foreign relations.
She told The Telegraph: “Building strong diplomatic ties with our international partners is the main responsibility of any foreign secretary.
“So how will David Lammy, who Keir Starmer hand-picked for this job, build these ties when he’s spent years actively attacking Orban, calling for people to ‘resist’ him, describing him as ‘dangerous’?
“These comments are the stuff of sixth form debate – he can’t just distance himself by claiming they were acceptable because he was in opposition.”
Nor is Mr Orban the only European politician the Foreign Secretary has insulted.
Matteo Salvini, Italy’s deputy prime minister, has previously been accused of racism by Mr Lammy.
In 2018 he said: “Salvini previously called for racial segregation on buses. This is nothing less than extreme, old-school racism.”
Then in 2019, Mr Lammy said Mr Salvini was “spreading far-Right conspiracy theories about Europe becoming an ‘Islamic caliphate’. Remember Nigel Farage is his friend and ally.”
None of these comments are likely to endear him to Giorgia Meloni, Italy’s prime minister, who appointed Mr Salvini as her deputy.
Ms Meloni will be among those attending a Nato summit in The Hague next June, as will Mr Orban and possibly Mr Trump.
Sir Keir may have reshuffled his Cabinet by then, but Mr Lammy is expected to remain in place. As the only black member of a Cabinet lacking ethnic diversity, his job is seen as one of the safest in government.
The son of Guyanese parents, Mr Lammy has in the past called on the UK to “hear and listen” to demands from Caribbean nations for Britain to pay reparations for the slave trade.
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His previous comments were thrown in Sir Keir’s face when he arrived at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Samoa this week.
A draft communique prepared by diplomats ahead of the gathering called for “discussions on reparatory justice with regard to the transatlantic trade in enslaved Africans,” a topic which the UK did not want to be included in the document.
Frederick Mitchell, the Bahamas’ foreign affairs minister, told the BBC: “Many of the institutions in the UK have already conceded the point of apology but the British Government isn’t quite there.
“It seems unusual to us because you have the Labour Party in power and this, we thought, was something that … Labour would change its position on, particularly since you have an Afro-British man as the Foreign Secretary.
“Given Sir Keir’s work before he became Prime Minister, given Mr Lammy’s position before he got this job that he has now, they bring their individual consciences to this job and I think eventually they will come around to the position.”
