Page 78 - Powerlist 2019 - Digital Edition

Politics, Law & Religion

David Lammy pressure, she later resigned saying she “inadvertently

Member of Parliament for Tottenham misled” MPs over targets for removing illegal immigrants.
David also led a high-profile campaign calling on
Oxbridge to improve access for students from under-
He was the “baby of the house” when he elected as an represented and disadvantaged backgrounds. In May
MP in 2000, and since then David has become one of the 2018 the University of Oxford announced a £150 million
country’s most high-profile African Caribbean politicians. investment in its outreach programmes and committed to
Under the last Labour government he held various publishing annual admissions reports, and the University
ministerial positions for nine years, including roles as of Cambridge announced plans to introduce a foundation
Culture Minister and Minister of State for Innovation, year. In March 2018 Comic Relief announced that it would
Universities and Skills. He was made a Privy Councillor in end “white saviour” charity appeals, after pressure exerted
2008. by David’s campaign.
But it is his campaigning work and rallying speeches In a sign of how well he is regarded across the political
that really brought him to national attention this year. divide, in 2016 David was personally chosen by then
Since the Grenfell Tower fire tragedy, David has been at the Prime Minister David Cameron, to lead a review into
forefront of the fight for justice for the survivors, families racism in the justice system amid concern about the
and local residents. disproportionate number of African and African Caribbean
He also led the campaign for the Windrush Generation men in British prisons. The Lammy Review was published
to be granted British citizenship and paid compensation in September 2017, and included 35 wide-ranging policy
by the government. His impassioned speech in the recommendations for Government and the criminal justice
House of Commons on the scandal, shook Westminster sector. In April 2018 the Home Secretary asked David to
to its core and shamed the politicians who were failing join the Government’s Serious Violence Taskforce.
to do anything about it. His two-minute sermon went David is an Ambassador for Action Aid, President of the
viral, including his unforgettable line to the then Home British and Foreign School Society and a Trustee of the
Secretary Amber Rudd: “When you lay down with dogs, National Youth Theatre as well as a Patron of a number of
you get fleas.” charities in Tottenham.
She apologised in response and said the Home Office He wrote Out of the Ashes: Britain after the riots, an
sometimes “lost sight of the individual”. Amid growing analysis of the long-standing causes of the 2011 riots.

74 Powerlist 2019