Paul Weller sues former accountants after being dropped over Gaza statements
The former frontman of The Jam has filed a discrimination claim against Harris and Trotter after the firm ended their professional relationship after more than 30 years.
In a pre-action letter seen by the PA news agency, lawyers for Weller say the singer-songwriter was told in March that the accountants and tax advisers would no longer work with the 67-year-old or his companies.
According to the letter, a WhatsApp message from a partner at the firm included: 'It's well known what your political views are in relation to Israel, the Palestinians and Gaza, but we as a firm are offended at the assertions that Israel is committing any type of genocide.
'Everyone is entitled to their own views, but you are alleging such anti-Israel views that we as a firm with Jewish roots and many Jewish partners are not prepared to work with someone who holds these views.'
Lawyers for Weller claim that by ending their services, the firm unlawfully discriminated against the singer's protected philosophical beliefs including that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza and that Palestine should be recognised as a nation state.
Weller said: 'I've always spoken out against injustice, whether it's apartheid, ethnic cleansing, or genocide. What's happening to the Palestinian people in Gaza is a humanitarian catastrophe.
'I believe they have the right to self-determination, dignity, and protection under international law, and I believe Israel is committing genocide against them. That must be called out.
'Silencing those who speak this truth is not just censorship – it's complicity.
'I'm taking legal action not just for myself, but to help ensure that others are not similarly punished for expressing their beliefs about the rights of the Palestinian people.'
Weller will donate any damages he receives to humanitarian relief efforts in Gaza, the legal letter also states.
Cormac McDonough, a lawyer at Hodge Jones and Allen, representing Weller, said that his case 'reflects a wider pattern of attempts to silence artists and public figures who speak out in support of Palestinian rights'.
Mr McDonough added: 'Within the music industry especially, we are seeing increasing efforts to marginalise those who express solidarity with the people of Gaza.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Independent
12 minutes ago
- The Independent
Former Salmond staffer rejects Sturgeon claims in book as ‘obviously false'
Nicola Sturgeon's new book contains 'falsehoods at worst, fabrications at best' about her predecessor, Alex Salmond's former chief of staff has claimed. Geoff Aberdein, who worked for Mr Salmond when he was first minister, hit out at Ms Sturgeon, saying: 'I was brought up that you didn't speak ill of the dead. 'But I think if you're going to speak ill of the dead, at least make your claims accurate.' He told the Holyrood Sources podcast that Mr Salmond's widow Moira was 'particularly upset and frustrated at a lot of what has been said' about her late husband, who died suddenly in October 2024. Mr Aberdein continued: 'I think it was important to set out and correct the record not just because Alex is not in position to defend himself, but for myself as well and the series of other officials and civil servants that have contacted me.' Claims that Mr Salmond was the person who leaked the story of the sexual harassment allegations against him are 'obviously false', Mr Aberdein insisted. He said that when his former boss took the phone call to say the story about the allegations was being published by the Daily Record he was actually meeting lawyers to 'draft a legal summons to prevent Nicola Sturgeon's Government from making the allegations public'. Mr Aberdeen said: 'To suggest Alex was simultaneously leaking documents deeply damaging to his reputation whilst at the same time paying lawyers a lot of money to get a court order to prevent publication of the same material is just utterly absurd.' Mr Salmond went on to be acquitted of all the charges against him in a court case in 2020. Mr Aberdein also dismissed claims by Ms Sturgeon that Mr Salmond 'didn't read' the white paper on independence which had been produced by the Scottish government in the run up to the 2014 referendum. In her recently published memoir, Frankly, Ms Sturgeon spoke out about her 'cold fury' with her former leader over his 'abdication of responsibility' on the key document. Mr Aberdein – who said he would not be reading the book – accepted that his former boss 'delegated the responsibility for drafting the white paper to Nicola Sturgeon'. However he insisted: 'To suggest, as I think was the purpose of this story, that he wasn't engaged in the process of a prospectus for independence is utterly nonsense. The former Salmond chief of staff also rejected claims that Mr Salmond was 'apparently against same-sex marriage' – saying that this was 'demonstrably false'. Mr Aberdein told the podcast Mr Salmond had 'declared his personal support for gay marriage for the first time' in a newspaper article in April 2011. And he added that while the SNP election manifesto that year had pledged to consult on the issue Mr Salmond 'chose to come out… excuse the pun, the turn of phrase, ahead of that result, to say that he personally supported it.' With the SNP having won the 2011 Holyrood election, Mr Aberdein recalled 'being in the room with advisors, civil servants and indeed ministers about how we would go about reassuring different sections of our society about that legislation, particularly religious leaders and other civic leaders'. He also made the 'obvious point' that 'if Alex Salmond didn't want legislation to be progressed, he was the first minister of a majority SNP government, it wouldn't have been progressed'. Mr Aberdeen said: 'The point falls down on that alone.'
The Independent
12 minutes ago
- The Independent
‘They are turning him into a hero': Kneecap solidarity gig held in Dublin
Hundreds of people have attended a music session in Dublin city in solidarity with Kneecap rapper Liam Og O hAnnaidh after he appeared in court on Wednesday. Kneecap flags and logos hung from the windows in Connolly Books, which dubs itself Ireland's oldest radical bookshop, in solidarity with O hAnnaidh, Kneecap, and the people of Palestine. Pro-Palestine supporters criticised the decision by British authorities to bring a charge against the performer instead of focusing on the Israeli government's actions against the Palestinian people. O hAnnaidh, 27, who performs under the stage name Mo Chara, is accused of displaying a flag in support of Hezbollah at a gig in November last year. Hundreds of Kneecap supporters greeted O hAnnaidh as he arrived at Westminster Magistrates' Court in London on Wednesday morning, alongside fellow Kneecap rappers Naoise O Caireallain and JJ O Dochartaigh. During the hearing, his defence team argued the case should be thrown out, citing a technical error in the way the charge against him was brought. The case has been adjourned until September 26, when the judge will rule on whether he has the jurisdiction to try the case. At the protest session at Connolly Books on Wednesday afternoon, several artists played Irish traditional music in solidarity with the rappers and Palestine. Musician Ru O'Shea, who performed at the demonstration, said charging O hAnnaidh had turned him into 'a hero'. 'I think it's been a huge misstep by the powers that be to go after him in the first place,' he told the PA news agency. 'I reckon that they don't have a thing on him, and I think they are turning him into a hero, and I think we need a hero. 'What's happening in Palestine right now, it's gotten to such an extreme that it's waking a lot of people up, including the British who might not have ever seen it otherwise and stayed in that bubble forever.' O'Shea's friend John Feehan said: 'I think people are maybe starting to look up a little bit in Britain, and I think things like what's happening with Kneecap is a catalyst for people to be like 'Oh, wait a minute, what's actually happening here?'. So I hope there's momentum, but I really don't know.' Dubliner Aoife Powell, 19, said she came out to protest because she is 'angry' at the decision to charge an artist rather than focus on what is happening to the people of Gaza. 'I'm here because it just worries me that the fact that governments are focused on artists expressing themselves rather than the actual problem, which is obviously the genocide in Gaza,' she told PA. 'It's a little bit disheartening to see there's so much pressure being put on these artists to stop saying what they truly think and to stop standing on the right side of history. 'I feel like it's a distraction from what's actually happening. 'When a government tries to silence people, they should learn that they can never silence people. I feel like the public would get more angry at that.' Sean O'Grady is from Coleraine in Northern Ireland but has lived in Dublin for almost 70 years. 'I'm delighted with them (Kneecap), that they've done what they're doing, and they're getting plenty of publicity. 'The British government are crazy, I mean, what are they at? 'They're supplying a lot of the bombs, and a lot of the arms and ammunition to Israel to do what they're doing. So they should be ashamed of themselves instead of bringing in these people (to court) for stupid reasons. 'It's getting good publicity over there for the cause of the Palestinians.' Dubliner Dermot Nolan said he attended his first Palestine protest in 1967, and while he remembers horrific events such as the Vietnam War, the scale of death and injuries in Gaza is the worst he has ever lived through. 'I'm here because it's important to for two reasons – first of all, to show our intolerance of the genocide and slaughter that's being carried out by the US, Nato and Israel. 'The second reason is the question of civil rights. We're protesting about the indictment of a member of the Irish group Kneecap. 'It is a sign of creeping authoritarianism which is happening in all the western countries and most clearly in Britain.'
The Independent
12 minutes ago
- The Independent
Officers were ‘covered in blood' after Pc shot with a crossbow
A police officer who was shot by a man with a crossbow said he lost so much blood that his colleagues were 'covered' in it. On Wednesday, a sentencing hearing at Aylesbury Crown Court heard police had been called after Jason King stabbed neighbour Alistair Mahwuto with a 'small knife' during an altercation, arising out of a 'long-standing' dispute. Police attended the scene in School Close in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, where King shot repeatedly at them using a crossbow before chasing them with the weapon and shooting officer Pc Curtis Foster, the court was told. The 55-year-old was later shot once by police in the stomach after refusing to put down the weapon when confronted by officers on May 10 last year, the court heard. Footage released by Thames Valley Police shows King, wearing shorts and a T-shirt, running across a road, pursuing the officers while pointing a crossbow. Pc Foster said of the incident: 'My recollection of the early moments when I arrived on scene was the street was empty, it was eerily quiet, no sign of the suspect and we then saw the victim who showed us a stab wound in the abdomen. 'I ascertained King had a crossbow when he removed the upstairs window to his property. He literally took the whole window out of its frame and then he was pointing something out of the window and I could see a red glint and then I realised it was a crossbow and that's when he took two shots at me out the window.' The officer added that he knew something had 'impacted' him but his adrenaline levels were 'so high' that he could not feel much pain. As a result, Pc Foster carried on running and helped clear members of the public away from the scene, despite his injury. Bodyworn camera footage shows the officer saying he thinks he has been shot and telling people to 'get back' into their houses as there is a man armed with a crossbow. Pc Foster said: 'I kind of first realised I was bleeding quite a lot when I could feel it running down my leg, and then I touched my leg above my trousers and my whole palm of my hand was red where it had gone through my trousers already so I thought yeah, I'm losing quite a lot of blood already.' He continued: 'There was a lot of blood. 'My two colleagues that turn up initially on scene were covered in my blood, that's how much blood I'd lost and when we got to the hospital the doctor had a feel of it and said I was really lucky it didn't strike an artery, it was a couple of centimetres away from hitting an artery in my leg.' Another clip shows King being confronted by an armed officer who shouts at him to 'stay still' before the officer fires one shot. The officer then runs over to King while other voices can be heard calling for paramedics. The armed officer, who cannot be named, said shooting King was 'the worst thing I've ever had to do' but that it 'neutralised a threat and kept everyone safe'. Further footage shows a police dog handler shouting to colleagues that King had attempted to shoot police dog Merlyn. Pc Foster has since made a full recovery from his injuries, police have said, while King was taken to hospital and discharged 10 days later. Judge Jonathan Cooper jailed King for nine years with a further three years on extended licence. He previously pleaded guilty to unlawful wounding, having an article with a blade or point, having an offensive weapon, wounding with intent and affray.
