French North African doctors consider emigration amid rise of far-right

LONDON: Labour’s David Lammy becomes Britain’s next foreign secretary, pledging to repair relations with the European Union and push for a ceasefire in Gaza while seeking to strengthen ties with Donald Trump’s Republican party.

The centre-left Labour Party won a landslide victory in Thursday’s parliamentary election, ending 14 years of Conservative rule and pledging to bring change to Britain.

While the initial six priorities promised in his election manifesto focused on domestic issues, a long list of international issues awaits Lammy in his inbox.

Labour said long-term peace and security in the Middle East would be an immediate priority. It pledged to recognise a Palestinian state as part of a renewed peace process that would lead to a two-state solution.

Lammy, 51, has been travelling extensively ahead of the election, including in the US, where he is trying to build ties with Republicans, after writing in Time magazine that Trump was a “neo-Nazi sociopath who hates women”.

He met with Republican figures considered candidates for positions in Trump’s cabinet, including Mike Pompeo.

Lammy has close ties to leading Democrats and is a close friend of former President Barack Obama, who also graduated from Harvard Law School.

COMMON CAUSE
In a speech during a visit there in May, Lammy said Labour would always work with the US “whatever the weather and whoever wins” and would seek to find “common cause” with Trump.

“I don’t think he wants the United States to abandon Europe. He wants Europeans to do more to ensure a better-defended Europe,” he said.

“Were his remarks offensive? Yes, they were. Would we have used them? No. But US spending on European defence actually increased under Trump, as did defence spending across the alliance during his term.”

Lammy, the son of Guyanese immigrants, represents a central London constituency and has spent much of his political career campaigning for social and racial justice.

He supported Britain remaining in the European Union in the 2016 referendum. Although Labour has pledged that Britain will stay out of the bloc, he wants to reset the relationship and seek to deepen ties, including through a new UK-EU security pact.

Lammy has already called Marine Le Pen, the leading figure of the National Rally (RN), xenophobic and malicious. Polls show her party on track to win the most seats in France’s legislative elections, but short of an absolute majority.

“France is one of Britain’s closest allies and we will work with whoever is elected. This is a democracy and it is up to the French people to decide who governs it,” Lammy told reporters earlier this week. “We will wait and see what happens in the second round on July 7.”

FIRST WOMAN CHANCELLOR

Rachel Reeves became Britain’s first female chancellor on Friday, and the former junior chess champion’s first gamble will be to try to boost growth without sacrificing the party’s new image of fiscal responsibility.

A former Bank of England economist, Reeves, 45, was tasked in opposition with repairing relations with business, which were strained under former left-wing Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, and showing voters the party could be trusted with their money.

Appointed as Labour’s finance chief in 2021 after a difficult start to the new prime minister Keir Starmer’s term, she has become synonymous with her approach of prioritising pragmatism over ideology and standing up to those on the left who want a more flexible approach to budgeting.

With Labor’s landslide victory in Friday’s election confirmed, she will now have to navigate a tricky budget environment and quickly boost growth if she wants promised investment increases to be delivered without tax increases.

She said it was “the honour of my life” and a “historic responsibility” to be the first woman to be appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer, the UK’s most senior economic and financial official.

“We have waited a long time for the chance to serve our country. We now have a credible plan to deliver the change the country needs. Growing our economy is at the heart of our mission,” Keanu Reeves told reporters on the sidelines of the party’s manifesto launch in Manchester.

“The opportunity to be Britain’s first female Chancellor of the Exchequer would give me immense pride, but it would also give me an immense responsibility: to pass on to our daughters and granddaughters a fairer society. That is what I am determined to do.”

Yvette Cooper becomes Home Secretary, responsible for overseeing internal security and policing.

Ed Miliband, who became Minister for Energy Security and Net Zero, led Labour into the 2015 election, which the party lost by a surprisingly large margin, prompting his resignation.

He has since rebuilt his political career around environmental and climate issues.

Miliband will play a central role in implementing Labour’s plan to make Britain a “clean energy superpower” through the creation of a state-owned energy company with the power to invest in new green projects alongside the private sector.

Angela Rayner, who Starmer appointed as deputy prime minister, will also serve as levelling up, housing and communities secretary.

* With Reuters, AFP and AP