Lord Hermer is preposterously wrong about international law
Lord Hermer KC has done it again. Delivering RUSI's annual security lecture this week, the Attorney General set out to 'depolarise' the debate about international law, before promptly comparing those who are open to withdrawal from the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) with Carl Schmitt, the notorious German jurist who joined the Nazi party in 1933. If Lord Hermer's intention truly was to lower the political temperature, and to help to broaden the base of support for the government's approach to international law, his speech must be judged a failure. Perhaps his choice of words was simply clumsy, as he has since said, although the text as a whole suggests otherwise.
The Attorney's speech mentions Schmitt, and a Schmittian approach to the rule of law, four times, linking him not only to the Nazis but also to Putin's aggression against Ukraine.
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The Sun
a day ago
- The Sun
Lord Hermer must accept that he is in Cabinet to serve the interests of his country or his days will be numbered
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The Sun
a day ago
- The Sun
Hermer and Starmer are drunk on concept of international law…and their blind faith to it is leading us down dark path
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Activist judges have been able to interpret the convention how they wish, using something called 'living instrument doctrine'. Democracy doesn't seem to count for much. Unlike the United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which predates the ECHR by two years and declares that 'the will of the people shall be the basis of government', the ECHR provides no such assurance. That is why it must go. It has become an instrument for an elite band of lawyers to rule over the rest of us, suppressing democratic will. Not that this will cut much ice with the likes of Hermer and Keir Starmer. They won't want to dump the ECHR, or other such structures of international law, because they, of course, are members of that elite — it would be like turkeys voting for Christmas. Again, to be fair to Hermer, he did acknowledge that there are some problems with the ECHR, and suggested it might have to be renegotiated. But we have had endless amendments and they have ended the same way — with ever more protocols giving activist judges ever more powers. Hermer and Starmer are simply drunk on the concept of international law. Even when they can see its faults they can't pull themselves away from it, can't bring themselves to ask whether Britain really needs to be a member of every supra-national treaty and body. They end up being suckers for the devious agendas of people who populate those bodies. Lord Hermer's big idea is 'progressive realism', which he defines as 'a rejection of the siren song that can sadly now be heard in the Palace of Westminster, not to mention some sections of the media, that Britain abandon the constraints of international law in favour of raw power'. 4 Perverse ruling But we have already seen where a blind faith in international law leads: for example, to the outrage of the Chagos Islands being given away to Mauritius, a country which has never had ownership of the islands. 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But the beneficiaries of Hermer and Starmer's progressive realism aren't exactly lovers of freedom and democracy. On the contrary, a blind faith in international law is leading Britain down a dark path.
Daily Mirror
a day ago
- Daily Mirror
MPs back the Mirror's campaign for a monument to honour UK terror victims
Labour's Kim Leadbeater, Lucy Powell, Andrew Gwynne and Graham Stringer all support our fight for a lasting touchstone to honour UK victims of terror and their families MPs have backed the Mirror's campaign for a monument to honour all UK terror victims. Labour's Kim Leadbeater, Lucy Powell, Andrew Gwynne and Graham Stringer all support our fight for a lasting touchstone. Last night Kim, whose sister Jo Cox MP was murdered by a white supremacist, said: "We should never forget the people we have lost to terrorism and I congratulate the Mirror on their 'Place to Remember' campaign which I am proud to support. 'Too many people have lost their lives to terrorism and extremist violence in our country and too many families have been left having to deal with their loss." The Spen Valley MP, 49, added: "We know that people grieve in different ways, but for some people having a special place to go to remember their loved ones could provide great comfort. A memorial would also serve to remind us of the life-changing impact of the actions of those who use violence to seek to divide us." The Mirror-backed Place to Remember Campaign is calling on the government to erect a monument honouring all those affected by terror attacks in the UK. We are also demanding that calls for a National Remembrance Day for Victims and Survivors of Terrorism be urgently listened to. March, Security Minister Dan Jarvis launched a consultation for a day of remembrance, which is due to close next month, but this does not include plans for a shrine. For Lucy Powell, MP for Manchester Central, the catastrophic impact of terrorism is all too familiar, having worked closely with victims of the Manchester Arena attack. Backing our campaign, she said: "As a constituency MP for Manchester Central I have seen first-hand the utter devastation and lasting trauma that terrorism causes. In Manchester, we pulled together as a city after the arena attack in 2017, and the Glade of Light memorial has provided a fitting space for remembrance and reflection in the city. 'However, a national monument to honour all those affected in the UK is perhaps overdue and would provide a central united space for remembrance. As such I support this and calls for a National Remembrance Day for victims and survivors of terrorism which would provide an opportunity for the nation to come together to remember those lost and affected.' Greater Manchester MPs Andrew Gwynne, who represents Gorton and Denton, and Graham Stringer, of Blackley and Middleton South, are also pleased to support our fight. Both leaders were heavily involved in the aftermath of Salman Abedi's blast at Manchester Arena on May 22, 2017, which left 22 dead and thousands more injured. Jo Cox, MP for Batley and Spen, was fatally shot and stabbed outside a library in Birstall, West Yorks, where she was about to hold a constituency surgery on June 16, 2016. Attacker Thomas Mair, a white supremacist who was obsessed with Nazis and apartheid-era South Africa, was handed a whole-life tariff and will likely die in prison. Jo's widower Brendan Cox, who co-founded terror victim Network Survivors Against Terror after her death, has also backed our campaign for a physical memorial.
