Tories targeting AG’s bar career deny playing party politics

Conservative MPs have insisted they are trying to preserve the reputation of the legal profession by raising concerns about the attorney general’s former representation of Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams.

Shadow solicitor general Helen Grant told the Commons on Thursday that critics were not interested in individual matters of advice or questioning Lord Hermer’s career at the bar. Rather, the party wanted ‘absolute clarity’ about how conflicts of interest with former clients are managed at the highest levels of government. She stated that Hermer had received £30,000 for representing Adams in a damages claim brought by victims of IRA bombings.

Grant asked what formal procedures were in place for the attorney general’s recusal in matters involving former clients, and further questioned whether Hermer had identified any potential conflict or sought to recuse himself from discussions about repealing sections of the Northern Ireland Troubles Act.

‘This all goes to the heart of public confidence in our legal system,’ said Grant. ‘The prime minister stood at the dispatch box and promised this house a government of standards and integrity. The proper management of conflicts of interest at the highest levels of the Government Legal Service is not optional; it is fundamental to that promise.’

Solicitor general Lucy Rigby accused the opposition of ‘cynically’ linking Hermer with some of his previous clients, and said it was a central and well-understood aspect of the British legal system that barristers are required to accept instructions if they are available and qualified to do so. ‘I would defend with every fibre of my being the duty of any barrister in this country, including Lord Hermer, to defend any client before any court, as we all should,’ she added. Rigby continued that if the attorney general had any conflict, he would recuse himself.

Labour’s Andy Slaughter, chair of the justice select committee, accused Grant of trying to gain party advantage with the effect of undermining the rule of law.

Labour MP Tony Vaughan, a barrister, added: ‘It seems that Conservative members are deliberately feigning ignorance about our constitution to make an empty political point.

‘The truth is that lawyers in this country represent clients without fear or favour. We do not in this country associate the views of our clients or the clients with the views of their lawyers.’