The MP for Tottenham, who also serves as Starmer's deputy, was caught up in a cabinet switcheroo as the UK's ruling party looked to freshen its failing façade. Now Secretary of State for Justice, Lammy is faced with the almost insurmountable task of clearing an 80,000-case-high pile of court backlog. A more cynical writer than me might suggest that he stop presiding over the aforementioned crackdown on anti-genocide protest, but the 53-year-old has had other ideas.
Lammy is faced with the almost insurmountable task of clearing an 80,000-case-high pile of court backlog
Trial by jury sits on the chopping block for many defendants, with Labour plans to introduce judge-only hearings for cases likely to result in a sentence of three years or less now official. More serious crimes - murder among them - would still be heard by a jury of our peers.
Lammy's reforms have drawn fire from those on opposing benches. Reform UK Leader Nigel Farage stated on Twitter that "this Labour government is crushing our freedom", while Liberal Democrat Ed Davey called on Prime Minister Starmer to reverse the plans of his Deputy.
Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick, meanwhile, brought Lammy's receipts to the Commons dispatch box. Jenrick, recently criticised for his comments on racial integration in Handsworth, raised that the Deputy PM had previously been outspoken in defending jury trials, questioning why the script had now been flipped. Unrest isn't exclusive to Labour's opponents, either...
Clive Lewis, of Norwich South, made headlines last month as the first Labour MP to call for Keir Starmer's ousting. While none of his red-rosette colleagues have pipped their heads above the parapet to challenge the PM just yet, Lammy's reforms have sparked chaos on the government's backbenches.
Richard Burgon MP, suspended from Labour from July 2024 until February 2025 for voting to lift the two-child benefit cap, called trial by jury "fundamental to our justice system".
The impending turquoise wave of Reform has sent a party with a historic Commons majority into a wild goose chase
It seems like decades since a smiling convoy of Labour politicians headed into Number 10 for the first time since Brown's departure. It was Starmer's 1997, his 'Blair moment'. In just over a year, though, the impending turquoise wave of Reform has sent a party with a historic Commons majority into a wild goose chase. Lammy's reforms are no different, and speak to the staggering desperation of this Labour government, who seem willing to throw a centuries-old right to the dogs in the faint hope of a polls bounce.