Georgetown, Guyana – (March 31, 2016) President David Granger, today, received a courtesy call from Mr. David Lammy, a parliamentarian from the United Kingdom (UK), who is currently in Guyana as part of a delegation from the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) to engage local Members of Parliament (MPs) in workshops on democracy.
In a brief comment after the meeting, Mr. Lammy, who was born in the UK to Guyanese parents who hailed from Hopetown, West Coast Berbice, said that he has been coming back to Guyana for the last two decades and has met with every sitting President since the late President Forbes Burnham.
Mr. Lammy said he is willing to work closely with Mr. Hamley Case, who is the newly appointed High Commissioner to the UK, to advance Guyana’s interest.
“I consider myself a friend of Guyana in the UK Parliament. There are very important issues that I can raise in the UK Parliament particularly in relation to the Venezuela issue, but it was wonderful to meet with the President to engage with him and to let him know that there are Guyanese diaspora in London, like me, who are absolutely dedicated to furthering the interest of this fantastic country,” Mr. Lammy said.
Born on July 19, 1972, Mr. Lammy is one of five children. He studied law at the School of Oriental and African Studies Law School. In 1994 he was admitted to the Bar of England and Wales. He became the first Black Briton to study a Masters in Law at Harvard Law School in 1997.
Mr. Lammy has been serving as an MP in the UK Parliament for the past 16 years, having been re-elected in May 2015. He also served as the Minister in the Department of Health and in the Department of Constitutional Affairs, Minister of Higher Education and Intellectual Property, Minister of Culture in the Department of Culture, Media and Sport and, most recently, as Minister of Skills with responsibility for the Commission for Employment and Skills. He was also made member of the Privy Council in October 2008.
