New foreign secy likely to visit India within first month

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Friday named David Lammy as his new foreign secretary, as the newly-appointed PM started the process of forming a Labour Party government after winning the general election with a landslide.

The 51-year-old Labour politician and lawyer, who has been a vocal advocate of strong bilateral ties with India and referred to external affairs minister S. Jaishankar as a “friend”, told India Global Forum in London last week that he intends to visit India within the first month of office if his party is elected to govern in Thursday’s polls.

“Look forward to continuing our engagement and strengthen the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership,” Mr Jaishankar posted on X, in his congratulatory message.

In his post after being appointed to one of the highest offices in the UK government, Lammy said: “It is the honour of my life to be appointed secretary of state for foreign, commonwealth and development affairs.

“The world faces huge challenges, but we will navigate them with the UK’s enormous strengths. We will reconnect Britain for our security and prosperity at home.”

Last week, referring to the missed Diwali 2022 deadline set by former Prime Minister Boris Johnson for the India-UK free trade agreement, he pointed out that “many Diwalis have come and gone without a trade deal and too many businesses have been left waiting”.

“My message to [finance] minister [Nirmala] Sitharaman and [trade] minister [Piyush] Goyal is that Labour is ready to go. Let's finally get our free trade deal done and move on,” he said.

Describing India as a “priority” for the party and an economic, technological and cultural “superpower”, Mr Lammy had sought to set the tone for his future tenure in a Labour-led Cabinet as foreign secretary.