Attorney general warns UK joining war on Iran may be illegal
Britain's attorney general has warned ministers that getting involved in Israel's war against Iran could be illegal beyond offering defensive support, it has emerged.
Richard Hermer, the government's most senior legal officer, is understood to have raised concerns internally about the legality of joining a bombing campaign against Iran.
An official who has seen Hermer's official legal advice told the Spectator, which first reported the story, that 'the AG has concerns about the UK playing any role in this except for defending our allies'.
Keir Starmer is considering whether to provide the US with military support if Donald Trump decides to bomb Iran, and whether to approve the use of the Diego Garcia base in the Indian Ocean for the attack. Hermer's advice could limit the degree of UK support for the US.
A spokesperson for the attorney general's office said: 'By longstanding convention, reflected in the ministerial code, whether the law officers have been asked to provide legal advice and the content of any advice is not routinely disclosed.
'The convention provides the fullest guarantee that government business will be conducted at all times in light of thorough and candid legal advice.'
The prime minister chaired an emergency Cobra meeting on Wednesday to discuss a range of scenarios and ongoing diplomatic efforts. David Lammy, the foreign secretary, is to meet his US counterpart, Marco Rubio, in Washington DC on Thursday as the US weighs up its options.
Trump has yet to make a final decision on whether to launch strikes against Iran. The Guardian reported that the president had suggested to defence officials it would make sense to do so only if the so-called bunker buster bomb was guaranteed to destroy the country's critical uranium enrichment facility, which is between 80 and 90 metres inside a mountain at Fordow.
Israel and Iran have been exchanging fire for days after Israel launched airstrikes which it said were aimed at preventing Tehran from developing a nuclear weapon. Iranian officials claim the country's nuclear programme is peaceful and that Israel has caused hundreds of civilian casualties.
Taking Fordow offline – either diplomatically or militarily – is seen as central to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons after the International Atomic Energy Agency found the site had enriched uranium to 83.7% – close to the 90% needed for nuclear weapons.
Miatta Fahnbulleh, an energy minister, said Starmer would take any decisions with a 'cool, calm head' and be guided by international law.
'Legal advice is for the prime minister, and I think that's where it will stay – and you can understand why I won't comment on that. But what I will say is that we have a prime minister who is a lawyer and a human rights lawyer, he will obviously do everything that is in accord with international law,' she told Times Radio.
'No one wants an escalation. No one wants this to erupt into a major conflict in the region that is hugely destabilising for every country involved, and for us globally. So the most important role that the prime minister can play, and is playing, is to be that cool, calm head to urge all partners around the negotiating table and to find a diplomatic route out of this.'
However, the shadow foreign secretary, Priti Patel, said the UK could 'hide behind legal advice at a time of crisis'.
Asked if she believed Hermer was right to sound a warning, Patel told Times Radio: 'I don't think we can hide behind legal advice at a time of crisis and national security when we have to work alongside our biggest ally in the world, the United States, when they look to us for potentially … setting out operational activities through our own military bases.'
The UK had not received a formal request from the US to use Diego Garcia in the south Indian Ocean or any of its other airbases to bomb Iran as of Wednesday night.
Diego Garcia was recently the subject of a new 99-year lease agreement with Mauritius that left the UK in full operational control of the military base. In practice, Diego Garcia is mainly used by the US, but the fact that it is ultimately a British base means that Starmer would have to approve its use for an attack on Iran.
The US is also thought likely to want to request the use of RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus for its air tankers, used to refuel B-2 bombers. The UK has deployed 14 Typhoon jets at Akrotiri to protect its bases and forces and to help regional allies, such as Cyprus and Oman, if they come under attack.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Telegraph
36 minutes ago
- Telegraph
Strangulation in pornography to be made illegal
Pornography depicting any act of strangulation is to be made illegal as part of government efforts to combat an 'epidemic' of sexual violence against women and girls. The move was recommended in a review for the Government by Baroness Bertin, a Conservative peer, who found that porn had effectively established choking as a 'sexual norm'. She said that a belief had taken root that choking a partner during sex was 'safe' because it was not fatal, despite overwhelming evidence that there was no safe way to strangle a person. The Government has already introduced a specific offence for abusers who strangle their partners, with perpetrators facing jail sentences of up to five years. Alex Davies-Jones, the justice minister, said: 'Depicting strangulation during sex is not only dangerous, but also degrading, with real-life consequences for women. 'Cracking down on the appalling rise of strangulation pornography will protect women and send a clear signal to men and boys that misogyny will not be tolerated.' Lady Bertin, who was commissioned to carry out the review by Rishi Sunak, also recommended that harmful online porn that would be illegal on the high street should be banned. The review, published on Thursday, found that violent, harmful and misogynistic porn was common on mainstream platforms. However, the material would be judged as illegal and refused classification by the British Board of Film Classification if it was sold in shops on the high street, according to Lady Bertin's review. It comes ahead of new legally enforced rules requiring websites that host pornographic or other harmful content to have 'robust' age verification in place for UK users by July at the latest. Methods to be required include open banking, photo ID matching, facial age estimation, credit card checks, digital ID services and email-based age estimation. 'No such thing as safe strangulation' Andrea Simon, the director of the End Violence Against Women Coalition (EVAW), said: ' We welcome the Government's decision to criminalise the depiction of strangulation in pornography, a move that reflects years of campaigning by EVAW and other experts who have long warned about the normalisation of violence against women and girls in online content. 'There is no such thing as safe strangulation; women cannot consent to the long-term harm it can cause, including impaired cognitive functioning and memory. Its widespread portrayal in porn is fuelling dangerous behaviours, particularly among young people. 'This is a vital step towards recognising the role violent pornography plays in shaping attitudes to women and regulating an industry which promotes and profits from violence against women. The UK's flagship Online Safety Act must now be updated to ensure online platforms are made to remove this content.'
Reuters
39 minutes ago
- Reuters
Countries evacuating citizens from Iran and Israel
June 19 (Reuters) - Countries around the world are taking measures to evacuate their citizens from Israel and Iran as the two nations enter the seventh day of their air war and airspace in the region remains closed. A week of Israeli air and missile strikes against its major rival has wiped out the top echelon of Iran's military command, damaged its nuclear capabilities and killed hundreds of people, while Iranian retaliatory strikes have killed at least two dozen civilians in Israel. The Australian government evacuated a small group from Israel through a land border crossing on Wednesday, and would look for more opportunities over the next day, Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said on Thursday. Around 1,500 Australians in Iran have registered for assistance, with another 1,200 Australians in Israel seeking to leave, Wong told reporters. Bulgaria has evacuated 17 of its diplomats and their families from Iran to Azerbaijan and is planning to repatriate them by land and air, the Bulgarian government said on Thursday. It said an administration at the Bulgarian embassy in Tehran was moving temporarily to Baku. China has evacuated more than 1,600 citizens from Iran and hundreds more from Israel, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said on Thursday. Several thousand Chinese nationals are thought to reside in oil-rich Iran, according to state media reports. Diplomats and embassy staff from Tel Aviv and Tehran will leave most probably by land, Croatian Foreign Minister Gordan Grlic Radman said. France will arrange convoy by the end of the week to get French nationals without their own means of doing so to the Turkish or Armenian borders from Iran to access airports in those countries, French foreign minister Jean-Noel Barrot said on Thursday. French citizens in Israel will be able to board buses starting Friday morning from the Jordanian border for airports in Jordan, with a flight chartered from Amman by the end of the week to aid the passage of French citizens who are vulnerable or in emergency situations, Barrot said. Greece has evacuated 16 of its nationals and their families by land from Iran to Azerbaijan and is now working on their repatriation to Greece, the foreign ministry said on Thursday. India said on Wednesday it has launched "Operation Sindhu" to evacuate Indian nationals from Iran. So far 110 Indian students have been evacuated from northern Iran, having crossed over into Armenia on June 17, India's foreign ministry said. The Indian Embassy in Iran has been assisting Indians in moving from areas seeing increased hostilities to relatively safer areas within the country and to subsequently evacuate them. Italy is organizing commercial flights from Amman in the next days to allow its about 20,000 nationals living in Israel to leave the country if they ask for it, Italian foreign minister Antonio Tajani said on X. 29 of the about 500 Italian nationals leaving in Iran already left the country on Wednesday with assistance from the government, a diplomatic source said, adding it wasn't a proper evacuation. Japan's top government spokesperson Yoshimasa Hayashi said on Thursday Japan would send two Self-Defense Forces transport aircraft to Djibouti in eastern Africa in preparation for the evacuation of Japanese nationals from Iran and Israel. He also said the Japanese embassies in Israel and Iran were preparing to evacuate Japanese nationals to neighbouring countries by bus, with plans to implement evacuation as early as Thursday. New Zealand has temporarily closed its Tehran embassy and evacuated two staff and their family by land to Azerbaijan. New Zealand's government warned that closed airspace limited how they can assist citizens requesting to leave. Foreign Minister Winston Peters added that consular partners are considering evacuation flights when air space reopens and the government is working closely with Australia. The Nigerian Government is finalizing arrangements for the emergency evacuation of stranded Nigerians in both countries, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement on Thursday. Norwegian foreign affairs ministry told Reuters it had no plans to evacuate Norwegian citizens from Iran, adding it had advised against travel to Iran for a long time. Norway's embassy remains operational in Tehran but currently does not accept visits from the public, its foreign ministry said. A group of Polish citizens evacuated from Iran landed in Warsaw on Thursday morning, ending the evacuation from the country, the Foreign Ministry's spokesperson told journalists. The first plane evacuated from Israel landed in Warsaw on Wednesday morning and a second one is expected on Thursday afternoon from Amman, with 65 people on board. Portugal has temporarily shut its embassy in Iran and evacuated four of its citizens via Azerbaijan. It has received 130 repatriation requests from citizens in Israel and is organising a repatriation flight, expected to land in Portugal later on Thursday, the foreign ministry said. A group of 100 Serbs have fled Israel via Egypt, ambassador Miroljub Petrovic said on Thursday. Eighteen South Korean nationals and two of their family members who are Iranian nationals were evacuated by land from Iran, South Korea's foreign ministry said in a statement on Thursday. The United States is working to evacuate U.S. citizens wishing to leave Israel by arranging flights and cruise ship departures, U.S. ambassador Mike Huckabee said in a post on X on Wednesday.
The Independent
39 minutes ago
- The Independent
It's time every police force atoned for its homophobic witch-hunts
At the height of the Aids crisis in the 1980s, when hundreds of gay men were suffering slow, agonising deaths, the then-Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police (GMP), James Anderton, denounced gay people as "swirling in a human cesspit of their own making'. His words were not mere rhetoric. Homophobia informed operational policing. GMP officers were directed to illegally harass gay venues, including the notorious raid by 23 police on Napoleon's bar in 1984. The membership list, including names and addresses, was illegally seized, and patrons were lined up against the wall and unlawfully photographed. Some had their feet deliberately stamped on. Regular police raids on the New Union pub, Rembrandt Hotel and the Clone Zone shop were acts of vindictive police harassment. Manchester police openly boasted: 'We've been trying to close these queer places for years.' However, in response to my Peter Tatchell Foundation's #ApologiseNow campaign, 21 out of the 45 Chief Constables in the UK – including the Metropolitan Police, Merseyside and Police Scotland – did just that, with many also implementing new LGBT+ supportive policies. They recognised the injustice done. In contrast, the GMP's Chief Constable, Stephen Watson, refused to apologise – as did his counterpart at West Midlands Police (WMP), Craig Guildford. They suggested that either there was no evidence of anything that justified an apology or that any claimed wrongdoing happened too long ago to matter. Their refusal is even more shocking given that GMP and WMP were historically two of the most viciously homophobic forces in the country, with gay arrest rates much higher than average. WMP compounded their insult by their double standards. They rightly apologised in 2020 to the black community for their long history of police racism, but they refuse to do the same to the LGBT+ community. On top of that, WMP had me forcibly removed from the recent Birmingham Pride parade after I criticised their refusal to apologise. They falsely claimed I did not have permission to be there and that the organisers asked for me to be removed. The latter has confirmed that both these claims were fabrications. The GMP and WMP Chief Constables have snubbed their own National Police Chiefs Council lead on LGBT+ issues. Northumbria Chief Constable Vanessa Jardine wrote to all Chief Constables over a year ago, urging them to review our request for an apology for historic anti-LGBT+ persecution. She had a good reason. In the decades before the full decriminalisation of homosexuality in England and Wales in 2003, police across the UK went out of their way to target and arrest thousands of gay and bisexual men for consenting, victimless behaviour. They went far beyond merely enforcing anti-gay laws and did so in a manner that was often illegal and sometimes violent. Couples were arrested for kissing, which was not a crime. Officers burst into private birthday parties whose partygoers were shoved and called ' f***ing queers' and 'dirty poofs'. At closing time for bars and clubs, police would harass men chatting on the pavement outside. Those who hesitated to disperse or questioned the lawfulness of police harassment were threatened and sometimes arrested and beaten up. It's little wonder that the police were reviled by many as 'queer-bashers in uniform'. In a raid on a bar in 1971, I was made to strip to my underpants in the street on a freezing cold October night. An officer squeezed my testicles until I screamed. I remember being stopped at a train station and quizzed and sneered at because I was wearing a gay badge. This was typical of the everyday petty police harassment that we endured. Police waged witch-hunts motivated by personal, and sometimes religious, prejudice against gay and bisexual men. They selected young, good-looking officers and got them to dress in a gay style, with tight-fitting jeans and leather jackets. These so-called 'pretty police' were deployed as agent provocateurs in parks and public toilets to entrap men into committing offences before a hidden squad swooped in and made arrests. Some forces had a policy of releasing the names, addresses and workplaces of arrested men to the newspapers – sackings and evictions often followed. With the stigma of a criminal conviction for a homosexual offence, many victims outed by the police had great difficulty in getting new jobs and housing. Some were beaten up, their homes and cars vandalised by homophobic mobs. Others turned to drink or endured mental breakdowns and suicide attempts. It is not an overstatement to say that lives were wrecked by the police. Twenty-four of the UK's Chief Constables have turned down my request for an apology. As well as disputing the existence of this persecution, some have claimed that these abuses happened a long time ago and that an apology would be a pointless gesture. The victims think otherwise. A formal apology would demonstrate moral leadership, humility and humanity. It would send a powerful message to those who endured oppression at the hands of the police, showing that their suffering has been heard, and that the police of today reject the abuses of the past. Apologies are not symbolic gestures. They are acts of justice. They affirm change and that the police now stand alongside the communities they once harmed. For many LGBT+ people, hearing their Chief Constable acknowledge historic mistreatment would be profoundly healing. The apologies issued so far by 21 forces have not undermined current officers but have strengthened community trust. They have helped to rebuild bridges with marginalised people, showing that policing today is informed by compassion, accountability and truth. This has boosted confidence in the police and encouraged more LGBT+ people to report hate crimes, domestic violence and sexual assaults. Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley, head of the Met Police, had no hesitation in saying sorry. He acknowledged that the Met had harboured 'systems and processes…which have led to bias and discrimination…over many decades' and apologised unreservedly to those 'we have let down.' Rowley showed true leadership and won huge respect among LGBT+ people.
