Who is Yvette Cooper? Labour veteran and ex-home secretary named UK foreign minister; succeeds David Lammy

Yvette Cooper, a seasoned Labour politician and former home secretary, was appointed as the UK’s new foreign minister by prime minister Keir Starmer on Friday. Her predecessor, David Lammy, was promoted to deputy prime minister in a major Cabinet reshuffle triggered by Angela Rayner’s resignation over a tax underpayment controversy. As part of the changes, Shabana Mahmood has been elevated from the ministry of justice to become the home secretary, replacing Cooper.

Who is Yvette Cooper?

Yvette Cooper, 56, has been appointed Britain’s foreign minister, succeeding David Lammy in Keir Starmer’s reshuffled Cabinet. Although she has not previously held an international brief, she is widely regarded as one of Labour’s most experienced figures. Born in Inverness and raised in Hampshire, Cooper studied philosophy, politics and economics (PPE) at Oxford before winning a Kennedy Scholarship to Harvard in 1991.

She worked on Bill Clinton’s 1992 presidential campaign in Arkansas and later joined the office of Labour leader John Smith. Before entering Parliament in 1997, she was an economics columnist and leader writer at The Independent. At the time, she shared a flat with Ed Miliband, whom she would later challenge for Labour’s leadership in 2015.She began her ministerial career under Tony Blair, later serving as work and pensions secretary under Gordon Brown, and spent years in opposition as Labour’s Shadow Home Secretary.

Most recently, as home secretary in Starmer’s government, she brokered bilateral deals with France and Germany on migration and became a key government voice on policing and immigration. Cooper’s political career is marked by a series of firsts. In 2001, she became the first minister to take maternity leave, and in 2008, the first woman to serve as chief secretary to the treasury. She is also one half of the first married couple to serve together in the Cabinet, reported BBC.