Steerpike Steerpike

David Lammy changes his tune on Corbyn

Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

Politics can produce some fickle friends – and none, it seems, are more fickle than the Honourable Member for Tottenham. Watching last night’s debate on Gaza in parliament, Mr S was surprised to watch David Lammy’s reaction to the intervention of his onetime leader. After Jeremy Corbyn rose to his feet, the Shadow Foreign Secretary was seen lying back and shutting his eyes in apparent contempt. What could possibly have been going through his mind?

Was it perhaps the time in June 2015 when Lammy nominated Corbyn to be leader, to ‘broaden’ the debate that year? Or after the magic grandpa’s ‘bloody brilliant’ conference speech in September 2017, following that year’s snap election, which prompted Lammy to claim that Corbyn ‘is heading to No. 10’? Was it even March 2020, when he told the Bernie Grant Trust ‘I so wish Bernie had been alive to see his great friend Jeremy Corbyn become leader of the Labour party’?

Perhaps Lammy was thinking of none of these things.

Steerpike
Written by
Steerpike

Steerpike is The Spectator's gossip columnist, serving up the latest tittle tattle from Westminster and beyond. Email tips to steerpike@spectator.co.uk or message @MrSteerpike

Topics in this article

Comments

Join the debate for just $5 for 3 months

Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for $5.

Already a subscriber? Log in