Attorney General compares calls to leave international courts with Nazi Germany
The Attorney General appears to have compared calls for the UK to leave international courts with Nazi Germany.
Lord Richard Hermer KC said the idea that the UK can breach international obligations is a 'radical departure from the UK's constitutional tradition'.
Lord Hermer used a speech in London on Thursday to say claims that international law can be 'put aside' were made in the early 1930s in Germany.
The claim that international law is fine as far as it goes, but can be put aside when conditions change, is a claim that was made in the early 1930s by 'realist' jurists in Germany, most notably Carl Schmitt, whose central thesis was in essence the claim that state power is all that counts, not law
Lord Hermer
In a version of his speech to the Royal United Services Institute (Rusi) thinktank, published on the gov.uk website, Lord Hermer suggested the Government's approach is a 'rejection of the siren song' that can be 'heard in the Palace of Westminster' in which 'Britain abandons the constraints of international law in favour of raw power'.
'This is not a new song,' he said.
'The claim that international law is fine as far as it goes, but can be put aside when conditions change, is a claim that was made in the early 1930s by 'realist' jurists in Germany, most notably Carl Schmitt, whose central thesis was in essence the claim that state power is all that counts, not law.'
Lord Hermer also said that because of what happened 'in 1933, far-sighted individuals rebuilt and transformed the institutions of international law'. That is the year that Adolf Hitler became German chancellor.
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has stopped short of calling for the UK to leave the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), as other Conservative figures have advocated.
However, she suggested the UK would have to leave the convention if it stops the country from doing 'what is right'.
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has said he would get rid of the ECHR, and told ITV in April that 'we have to get back the ability to decide, can we really control our borders'.
In his same speech to Rusi on Thursday, the Attorney General said 'we must not stagnate in our approach to international rules' and that officials should 'look to apply and adapt existing obligations to address new situations'.
'We must be ready to reform where necessary,' he added.
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