David Lammy, the son of Guyanese immigrants who grew up poor in working-class London, on Friday turned Britain’s chief diplomat, taking the lead on British overseas coverage at a time of serious challenges.

Mr. Lammy, 51, has deep ties to the United States, having spent summers with family members in Brooklyn and Queens and incomes a grasp’s diploma at Harvard Regulation Faculty.

He met Barack Obama 20 years in the past at a gathering of Black Harvard alumni, and this 12 months he had dinner with the previous U.S. president when Mr. Obama visited London. Mr. Lammy canvassed in Chicago for Mr. Obama throughout his first presidential marketing campaign, and he has developed a deep community of contacts inside the Democratic Occasion.

In an essay in Foreign Affairs magazine printed in April, Mr. Lammy wrote that he would concentrate on rebuilding ties with the European Union, which have been strained by Britain’s determination to go away the bloc, and that his precedence was backing Ukraine.

“Above all else, the UK should proceed supporting Ukraine,” he wrote. “The way forward for European safety will depend on the end result of the conflict there, and the British authorities should go away the Kremlin with little doubt that it’ll assist Kyiv for so long as it takes to realize victory.”

The Labour Occasion has mentioned that its dedication to NATO is “unshakable” and has vowed to boost its army spending from 2.2 p.c to 2.5 p.c of gross home product “as quickly as we will.” On the conflict in Gaza, the celebration has mentioned it can push for a right away cease-fire and for the discharge of Israeli hostages held there.

In an interview with The New York Occasions this 12 months, Mr. Lammy mentioned that, if he had the privilege of changing into overseas minister, he can be “very acutely aware that I’ll be the primary — it nearly makes me emotional as I say it — the primary overseas secretary who’s the descendant of enslaved individuals.”