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

Keir Starmer conducts much of Britain’s diplomacy himself, but beneath him is a team of trusted advisers

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.