Keir Starmer refuses to guarantee David Lammy Foreign Secretary job if Labour wins the election - after Lammy was absent from the campaign trail

Sir Keir Starmer yesterday refused to guarantee that David Lammy will be made Foreign Secretary if Labour wins the Election - after he has been noticeably absent on the campaign trail.

The Labour leader said 'I'm not going to start announcing the Cabinet' when asked if Mr Lammy could be dropped from the foreign brief.

It comes amid swirling speculation that Douglas Alexander, who served in Sir Tony Blair and Gordon Brown's cabinets, could be parachuted into the role.

Asked if he was poised to drop Mr Lammy from the foreign brief because he considered him 'a liability', Sir Keir refused to rule it out.

He told the Daily Mail: 'Well, I'm not going to start announcing the Cabinet... we're going to win the election first and then if we win the election, you'll know soon enough what the Cabinet looks like.

'So I'm not going to start down that road for any member of the Cabinet.

Sir Keir pointed out that Mr Lammy attended the state banquet for Emperor Naruhito of Japan at Buckingham Palace with him on Tuesday night.

Asked again 'so he's not a liability then?,' Sir Keir added: 'No, of course not, he's great. And we've been out and about with him.'

But Labour insiders say some senior figures believe Mr Lammy, who has been Shadow Foreign Secretary since November 2021, is 'a liability' and he has been noticably absent from the campaign trail.

Mr Lammy's absence has been particularly odd given the multiple security challenges facing Britain and the world at present, senior party figures say.

Lord Wood of Anfield, speaking to the BBC yesterday, said he was 'really struck' by the party's silence in policy areas such as Mr Lammy's.

The Labour peer said: 'The party seems reluctant to talk about vast areas of policy. Foreign policy hasn't got a look in at a time when security challenges - Ukraine, Gaza - lots and lots of issues confronting this country.

Others point to the fact that Mr Lammy previously voted against renewing Trident and that this runs counter to Sir Keir describing Labour's commitment to the nuclear weapons programme as 'unshakeable' and 'absolute'.

Sir Keir has put embracing the nuclear weapons programme at the centre of his mission to convince voters that his party has changed after ex-leader Jeremy Corbyn, who wanted to ditch Trident.

Meanwhile, Mr Lammy has made a number of perceived gaffes which may make forging links with foreign administrations more difficult.

In an article for Time magazine in 2018, he branded former US President Donald Trump a 'woman-hating, neo-Nazi-sympathising sociopath' and 'profound threat to the international order'.

In 2019, when Mr Trump visited London, Mr Lammy also said he would join protesters on Trafalgar Square demonstrating against his welcome by the UK government.

Mr Trump may be re-elected in November in the US election and if he is the comments threaten to put a strain on the 'special relationship'.

In 2019, Mr Lammy also insisted that comparing Brexiteer Tory MPs to Nazis and proponents of South African apartheid was 'not strong enough', sparking outrage.

At the time, asked if it was fair to make such a comment about elected politicians, he said: 'I don't care how elected they were: so was the far right in Germany.'

Labour party sources say Mr Alexander, the candidate for East Lothian, is being lined up for a senior frontbench job if Labour wins the Election and has repeatedly been linked with the foreign brief.

His allies have dismissed the idea that there were continuing talks about a role in government as 'total b*****s'.

But as one of the few incoming MPs with sinificant government experience, he is still seen as a frontrunner to secure a place in Sir Keir's senior ranks.

The 56-year-old served as international development, Scottish and transport secretaries under Sir Tony and Mr Brown.

He was elected in 1997 and served as the MP for Paisley & Renfrewshire South until 2015, when he lost his seat to the SNP.

'There is an expectation that he (Douglas Alexander) will and should be part of the top team,' a senior Labour source said.

'He brings experience, he brings intellect and is a good voice in the media.'