Exclusive: David Lammy draws on business contacts for London Mayoral backing
Former City lawyer David Lammy has secured fresh financial backing as he steps up his campaign to be the next Mayor of London.
Jonathan Goldstein, the head of European investments for Cain Hoy, an offshoot of Guggenheim Partners, told CityAM yesterday that he will be backing Lammy financially. He said Lammy, who is Labour MP for Tottenham, “would perform his role excellently. David is a fresh face and he represents the encouragement of new immigrants in London, a London where there are no boundaries and no glass ceiling.”
Goldstein, who has overseen investments of £1bn in the London real estate market including a scheme in Islington Square, said Lammy represented a balance between social fairness and the encouragement of business and entrepreneurialism.
“David’s whole background speaks to London as being a place of opportunity,” says Goldstein.
Lammy grew up in Tottenham, next to the notorious Broadwater Farm Estate. At the age of 11, he won a choral scholarship to a state-funded cathedral school in Peterborough before becoming the first black Briton to study law at Harvard.
Lammy’s other business backers include Sir Trevor Chinn, the entrepreneur who founded Lex Garages, Richard Greer, the chair of the Creative Society, and Nicola Stephenson, founder of the Mission PR agency.
He is currently trailing in the race to Tessa Jowell. Labour’s Mayoral candidate will be decided on 31 July.