The attorney general has come under attack from a Labour peer who has accused him of thinking ‘law is a replacement for politics’. The comment, by Lord Glasman (political theorist Maurice Glasman), is the latest in a wave of criticism of the Matrix Chambers barrister over his role in the Starmer government.
Glasman, who is head of a culturally conservative Labour group, called on prime minister Keir Starmer to sack Hermer. In an interview with the New Statesman, Glasman said of Hermer: ‘He’s got to go. He is the absolute archetype of an arrogant, progressive fool who thinks that law is a replacement for politics. They talk about the rule of law but what they want is a rule of lawyers.’
Hermer has come under particular scrutiny this week over his role in the government’s controversial plans to hand the Chagos Islands back to Mauritius.
A spokesman for the prime minister said he had full confidence in Hermer. ‘The prime minister appointed his whole cabinet, including the attorney-general because they’re the best people to do the job and deliver on the priorities of the British people.’
Hermer, who was born and raised in Wales, studied politics and modern history at the University of Manchester before being called to the bar in 1993. After pupillage in Wales, he moved to London, where his practice predominately focused on human rights and international law. He has been involved in claims emanating from the Iraq conflict and Guantanamo Bay.
Hermer was one of a group of leading Jewish lawyers who wrote an open letter in the Financial Times last October calling for Israel to be guided by the law in its response to the Hamas attack.
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