Deputy prime minister praises AJEX and thanks Jewish service personnel and veterans ahead of Remembrance events

He continued: “I'd like to thank Ajex for organising the event and for all they do throughout the year to keep alive the memory of Jewish people, many of whom are in my constituency, the descendants in my constituency in Stamford Hill, who gave their lives for this country.”

However, Lammy appeared at the start of the session without a poppy, leading to some criticism from MPs.

Conservative Party chair Kevin Hollinrake posted on X: “Disgrace that David Lammy, the deputy prime minister of this nation and standing in for the prime minister at PMQs, is not wearing a poppy.”

Lammy affixed one to his lapel mid-way through the session, suggesting he didn’t initially because he had bought a new suit.

In his reply to Blackman’s comments about the sacrifice of Commonwealth soldiers, Lammy, who is of Caribbean heritage, said: “I bought a new suit this morning because my godmother said she would be watching. But his question brings to mind the West Indies Regiment and their contribution in two World Wars.”

He went on to thank his frontbench colleague Bridget Phillipson, the education secretary, whom he was sat next to, for “ensuring that, despite wearing a new suit, I've managed to put my poppy on. We wear the poppy to remember all those who fought and died for this country. They represented every walk of life, every race and every religion.”

The Sun has since reported that Lammy borrowed the poppy from Labour backbencher Calvin Bailey, a former RAF officer.

Meanwhile, in his exchange with Shadow Defence Secretary James Cartlidge, who was standing in for Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch this week, Lammy was pressed about whether he knew about any additional migrant sex offenders had been accidentally released from prison.

This follows the case of Ethiopian Hadush Kebatu, who sexually assaulted a 14-year-old girl and a woman while residing in an asylum hotel in Epping and was accidentally released from prison last month and subsequently re-arrested and put on a deportation flight last Tuesday.

While the justice secretary repeatedly avoided giving a direct answer to the questions, after PMQs had concluded Cartlidge raised a point of order following breaking news that “a police manhunt has been launched for a second asylum seeker mistakenly freed from prison”.

He asked the Speaker of the House of Commons Sir Lindsay Hoyle to “advise on how I can ask the justice secretary whether he was aware of this”, to which Hoyle responded: “You put it on the record. Right, let's just move on.”