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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Kiran Stacey Policy editor

David Lammy still plays an important role in UK foreign policy – but he is not the only one

David Lammy laughing as JD Vance grabs his arm during a meeting at Chevening House, in front of UK and US flags
The US vice-president, JD Vance, right, talks with Britain's then foreign secretary, David Lammy, during a meeting at Chevening House in Kent, England, 8 August 2025. Photograph: Kin Cheung/AP

The first foreign official JD Vance met with after he returned from peace talks with Iran in Islamabad this week was not a diplomat or foreign policy official – it was David Lammy, the UK’s justice secretary and deputy prime minister.

Lammy will follow his trip to Washington, where he saw the vice-president and the secretary of state, Marco Rubio, with another to Barcelona, where he will represent the UK at a conference of global progressives, and then one to the Gulf.

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