The shadow foreign secretary, David Lammy, says his family history as descendants of enslaved people will inform his work in government, as he seeks to deepen the UK’s relations with the global south and the Commonwealth.
“I will take the responsibility of being the first foreign secretary descended from the slave trade incredibly seriously,” he said in a speech setting out how Labour would reform the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), a Whitehall department that has a reputation for institutional conservatism.
He said he would use his personal past to help solve the problems of today such as war, humanitarian crises and the climate crisis rather than re-prosecute conflicts of the past. The task ahead, he said, required painstaking diplomacy rather than symbolic gestures and an endless carousel of changing leaders.
He also said he wanted the Foreign Office to become more strategic, less elitist, think more long-term and be more willing to take risks.
Lammy set out a planned series of institutional reforms, including a new College of British Diplomacy, a soft-power advisory council and an enhanced strategy unit at the centre of the Foreign Office. Speaking to the Institute for Government, he said the UK needed to learn from the dynamism of France but also the diplomatic innovation of India, Brazil and the UAE.
He said that “at present, neither the FCDO nor the national security council is delivering the sharp, coherent international strategy which the country urgently needs. Without such a strategy, we should expect to be buffeted by the tides of superpower competition.”
He promised to empower and build the existing strategy unit to put it at the heart of the organisation, making it the place to go for the sharpest geopolitical minds.
He added the Foreign Office needed to grasp technology as a way of freeing up diplomats to spend less time in their offices writing briefings and more time in the field.
Lammy argued: “The root of diplomatic expertise will always be deep understanding of host countries and regions. But the emerging diplomatic issues of our age are the thematic threats and opportunities presented by climate, technology and health. For too long, the Foreign Office has been seen by the outside world and the rest of government as generalist dilettantes.”
The FCDO should double down on adopting AI and open-source technology to generate insights and free up staff to concentrate on frontline activity, he suggested.
He also proposed to establish a soft-power council to bring together leading figures from across arts, culture, creative industries and academia, all working together to advance the national interest.
Lammy also told the Institute for Government that Donald Trump has “the right concern” about European defence spending.
Trump suggested in February that he would encourage Russia to “do whatever the hell they want” to Nato allies failing to meet their financial obligations.
Lammy said: “[Trump] in his own unique way, I think, is concerned about burden-sharing across Europe – that is a concern shared by my friend Barack Obama, it is a concern that has been echoed since Kennedy, and it is the right concern.
“It is still the case that there are European countries not spending as much as they should on defence and that needs to improve, and that is something where the United Kingdom can join common cause with the United States.”
