15-02-2025
Labour MPs turn on Lord Hermer as ethics watchdog urged to investigate
Another Labour MP said: 'If you've got financial interests you should be declaring them, that's a given. From the local councillor up to the Cabinet minister. No questions. It's an absolute aberration to have a senior minister avoiding that transparency. I'm surprised this still hasn't been sorted.'
'It's clearly a cause for concern. Some of us feel he's not assisting the Government's cause,' said another.
In a letter sent to the Prime Minister on Saturday and seen by The Telegraph, Sir Gavin Williamson, the former defence secretary, wrote: 'I am writing to you to raise concerns that the Attorney General, Lord Hermer, has breached the Ministerial Code, and to ask you to refer him to the Independent Advisor on Ministerial Standards.'
He cited articles 3.1 and 3.8 of the code, which relate to the perception of a conflict between personal and ministerial interests.
Sir Gavin wrote that Lord Hermer's 'lack of transparency on this issue has led to the widespread perception of a conflict of interest and as such is a breach of the obligation under the Ministerial Code'.
Allies of the Attorney General insist he has followed the procedures for interest declarations for the House of Lords, which are more lax than for the House of Commons.
'He's thinking as a lawyer, not as a politician'
However, a Cabinet source said: 'Anyone with political nous would see the problem of not declaring your interests as a minister. But if you're looking for someone with political nous, it is not Richard Hermer.
'He's thinking as a lawyer, not as a politician. He thinks 'what are the rules in the Lords, I'll follow them so there's no problem'. He doesn't think about how it looks. But there is what is legal and there is the perception of what is right, which are not always the same thing. There is a court of public opinion too and he needs to realise that.'
Explaining the wider animosity towards Lord Hermer, the source said: 'There's a clash of ideas about politics and the law which is more fundamental than just one person, but Hermer embodies it. The question is, for example, how do you treat the threat of going to court? Hermer's view is that you shouldn't fight if there's a chance you could lose on ECHR grounds or whatever. But sometimes you really should fight even if you might lose. Because you might win but also because you want to show the public that you care. It's about ideas, not just process.'
On Tuesday Lord Glasman, an influential Labour peer, called Lord Hermer an 'arrogant, progressive fool' and said 'he's got to go'.
Revelations about the Attorney General's former clients have made for difficult headlines for the Government.
On Saturday it emerged that he had represented a terrorist who helped to plot 9/11 in a compensation claim.
Earlier in the week Lord Hermer was found to have worked on a similar case in which he acted for an al-Qaeda chief linked to the 7/7 London bombings.
