Whitehall launches hunt for mole who leaked Hermer's Iran advice
The Government has launched an official hunt for the Whitehall mole who leaked Lord Hermer's legal advice on Iran.
The Cabinet Office's Propriety and Ethics Team (PET) has been instructed to carry out an official leak inquiry after it was reported that the Attorney General did not believe the UK should join Israeli strikes on Iran.
On Wednesday The Spectator said Lord Hermer had told Downing Street that he had ' concerns about the UK playing any role in this except for defending our allies'.
The Telegraph understands the advice was given after Israel's first attack on Iranian nuclear facilities last Thursday, although it was not reported for another six days.
Lord Hermer was concerned that the UK might breach international law if it joined Israel in striking Iran directly. The United Nations Charter says that countries can only launch an attack in self-defence, to defend an ally, or if the UN Security Council passes a resolution authorising military action.
The leak has placed Lord Hermer in a difficult position because he is not allowed to discuss the content of his advice and Downing Street is keen to avoid any public discussion of its plans in the Middle East.
The disclosure came as Donald Trump was considering sending an American 'bunker buster' bomb into Iran to destroy a nuclear fuel enrichment facility in northwestern Iran.
In response, No 10 urged world leaders to keep 'cool heads' and said that it maintained a policy of 'de-escalation'.
The UK has not participated in any offensive action against Iran, nor defended Israel, since the latest round of the conflict began.
While it is commonplace for the Attorney General, the government's chief law officer, to give an opinion on defence policy as ministers draw up their response to a crisis, the advice must be kept a secret.
The Ministerial Code, the official handbook for serving in government says that 'the fact that the Law Officers have advised or have not advised, and the content of their advice, must not be disclosed outside government without their authority'.
The Cabinet Office's team will now attempt to find the leaker, who may be one of the officials or ministers who attended official meetings about the Middle East conflict on Thursday or Friday last week.
Lord Hermer's legal advice has previously attracted criticism after sources said he was acting as a 'freeze on government' by trying to block various government policies on legal grounds.
He has also been criticised for controversial clients he represented while working as a barrister, including the alleged terrorist Abu Zubaydah and Gerry Adams.
The Labour peer is a former human rights lawyer and long-time friend of Sir Keir Starmer.
His position on the Israel-Iran conflict has since been backed by Left-wing Labour MPs, including Dame Emily Thornberry, the former shadow attorney general and chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee.
She said on Thursday that 'any of those justifications' for war in the UN Charter do not apply because the UK is 'not under threat ourselves,' an air strike would not be defensive and there is no Security Council resolution.
Downing Street, the Cabinet Office and the Attorney General's Office declined to comment.
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