Latest news with #LordHermer
Telegraph
5 hours ago
- Politics
- Telegraph
Lord Hermer's denial of two-tier justice is a disgrace
This week, Lord Hermer was asked by the BBC about two-tier justice, the idea that the British state treats ethnic minorities more favourably than the white working class. This perception, so corrosive to faith in the rule of law, has become widespread since the crackdown on the Southport unrest last summer. Never one to read the public or political mood, Starmer's lawyer ally simply issued a blunt and contemptuous denial. Such claims are 'frankly disgusting', he said, and indeed 'offensive' to police, prosecutors and courts. He added that instead of criticising the British justice system, politicians 'need to get behind it, not seek to undermine it'. (Perhaps he should have a word with the justice secretary, Shabana Mahmood, who earlier this year had to intervene to block sentencing guidelines which she herself labelled 'two-tier'.) It's a woefully tone-deaf performance, suggesting that Hermer doesn't even understand why the Government's response to the Southport unrest gave rise to charges of unfairness. He argued that people were wrong to compare the policing of London Gaza marches, often awash with anti-Semitism but 'not producing violence', with the Southport unrest, since this saw attacks against police officers. No one would say violent rioters shouldn't be treated robustly. But what Hermer ignores is the way the state dealt fiercely with white, working-class Southport rioters in a way it never does with more favoured groups. Just weeks before, when rioters in ultra-diverse Harehills, Leeds, overturned a police car and set a bus on fire, the police reportedly ran away. Meanwhile, days into the Southport unrest, when armed Muslim mobs formed supposedly in order to protect their local communities, the police let them have free rein. In Birmingham on August 5, the result was a pub being attacked, with a man outside it suffering a lacerated liver, amid other disorder. Even more than this double-standard though, it is the punitive crackdown on online speech that has caused there were many who found themselves charged and remanded in custody for social media posts, the most high-profile is Lucy Connolly, imprisoned for 31 months for a single nasty tweet (which she later deleted) on the night of the Southport murders. As the Telegraph disclosed earlier this month, Lord Hermer personally approved the prosecution of Mrs Connolly for stirring up racial hatred, despite having the constitutional power not to. Hermer has also declined to seek to review lenient sentences for gang grooming offenders – but in his political judgement, it was in the public interest for Connolly to face up to seven years in prison over one nasty tweet. Former Attorney General Suella Braverman says she would not have consented to the charge. 'We don't have a two-tiered justice system', insists Hermer. We have an 'independent justice system'. But can anyone really look at the state response to Southport and claim it 'independent' from politics? Sir Keir Starmer politicised the justice system the moment he claimed all of those involved were 'far-Right thugs', who had come from out of town to cause chaos. In reality, subsequent analysis of the arrest data along with a recent report by the police inspectorate have poured cold water on those claims. Politicians were also swiftly claiming that online speech was a principal cause, with Hermer himself crowing that 'you cannot hide behind your keyboard'. This narrative was no less dubious – no one needed to be told by social media to be angry about the horrific murders of three children. Yet both became reasons for the police, the CPS and the courts to throw the book at people like Connolly over tweets. '[T]heir intention was always to hammer me', as Lucy told the Telegraph earlier this year. Lucy's two-tier treatment continues to this day. First, she was denied release on temporary license to care for her daughter and sick husband. This is a privilege which even murderers are sometimes granted, and which has been granted to others at Lucy's prison. Now she says she's being cruelly mistreated in prison. Does Hermer seriously think it's 'disgusting' to see this as unfair? Hermer can deny two-tier justice all he likes, but the more the public hears about cases like Connolly, the more the charge rings true. A recent YouGov poll found public confidence in the judicial system at an all-time low, with the proportion expressing 'no confidence at all' rising four per cent since last June. Berating people who feel these concerns will not make them go away.
Spectator
a day ago
- Politics
- Spectator
Why does Lord Hemer think two-tier justice claims are disgusting?
Lord Hermer, the Attorney General who personally authorised the prosecution of Lucy Connolly for a tweet, has broken his silence on the claims that we have a two-tier justice system, and he's angry. Hemer is also very wrong, as an investigation into Palestine Action demonstrates. Hermer, like much of the British regime, prefers convenient pretence over honesty The Attorney General was interviewed for Starmer's Stormy Year, a new Radio 4 programme assessing how the government's first year has gone. When the discussion turned to last August's riots, Hermer became audibly angry, describing the two-tier claim as 'frankly disgusting'. He seemed rather confused about where the impression of double standards has come from, insisting that: 'What some people were seeking to do, bringing up 'two-tier', was to make a comparison with the way that people were being treated for trying to kill police officers – and I want to reiterate that, 'kill police officers' – with the response to protests on the streets of London… That's where the two-tier comes from.' Perhaps there are people who believe those who rioted or threatened the lives of police officers should have been spared jail. I've never met them. I have met and spoken with many who have deep, serious concerns about how unjust our justice system is becoming. When I have written about this matter I have focused on inconsistencies in charging decisions, particularly for speech crimes, evidently excessive sentencing, or attempts to codify advantage for those who aren't white, male and Christian. One of the most egregious examples is Hamit Coskun's prosecution and conviction for burning a Quran – a man who burned a Bible in similar circumstances is unlikely to have even been arrested. This is what two-tier justice looks like. A system where the law is nowhere close to equal and fair, and in which the state uses its power capriciously to target those who the ruling class do not approve of, while decriminalising the acts of those who have its support. I can't believe that Hermer is unaware of this. Unfortunately for the Attorney General, today the Times has published a tremendous piece of investigative journalism in which they infiltrated Palestine Action, and attended one of their online meetings. The organiser assured members of the soon-to-be proscribed organisation that the establishment is on their side, saying that 'we're seeing people not get charged with the things that they should get charged with', that serious charges were often diluted or dropped altogether, that Palestine activists tended to 'get off lightly' at sentencing, and provided a list of recent cases in which the activists had been spared serious punishment. If that isn't two-tier justice, what is? Hermer insisted that 'we have one justice system, that is an independent justice system…and I think we all need to get behind it not seek to undermine it.' He must know this isn't true. Speaking about people who 'undermine' the justice system can only be an effort to shut down an uncomfortable truth. The Attorney General clearly believes that those of us who've noticed the double-standards in our system are wrong to mention it. He, like much of the British regime, prefers convenient pretence over honesty, and bristles at challenge or accountability from politicians or the public. This behaviour is not new. It's why the rape gangs were kept quiet. It's why the Sentencing Council was so furious at being challenged by the Lord Chancellor. It's also evident in this week's claim that the small boats crisis is being directed by Russia, as opposed to a very obvious consequence of providing migrants free accommodation in London's zone one, along with easy access to paid work for companies like Deliveroo. Everywhere the rot spreads, and everywhere the state would prefer lies to hard truths.
Daily Mail
a day ago
- Politics
- Daily Mail
I'm NOT a huge lefty! Attorney General Lord Hermer dismisses claims he 'defends those who hate Britain' and hits out at 'two-tier' justice jibes as 'disgusting'
The Attorney General has rubbished suggestions that he's 'some huge lefty' as he hit back at claims he's dedicated his career to 'defending those who hate Britain'. Lord Hermer, who was hand-picked to be the Government's chief legal adviser by Sir Keir Starmer, defended himself from Tory attacks over his past client list. He also branded charges of a 'two-tier' justice system in Britain, which have been made following last summer's riots, as 'disgusting' and 'wrong'. The Labour peer told the BBC that politicians using the phrase needed to think about the 'dangers' they were posing to the UK's 'essential institutions'. Lord Hermer has been friends with the Prime Minister since 1996 when they worked at the same barristers' chambers. He was handed a peerage by Sir Keir in July last year so that he could serve in the Labour Government as Attorney General. But his time in the role has been dominated by controversy, including scrutiny of those individuals he represented during his time as a human rights lawyer. Tory shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick has urged the PM to sack Lord Hermer. The Attorney General also branded charges of a 'two-tier' justice system in Britain, which have been made following last summer's riots, as 'disgusting' and 'wrong' 'Gerry Adams. Shamima Begum. Osama bin Laden's right-hand man,' Mr Jenrick posted on social media earlier this month. 'Lord Hermer has spent much of his life defending those who hate Britain. Why on earth did Starmer hand-pick him to be Attorney General?' Responding to the criticism, Lord Hermer said: 'The attacks on me are based on the fact that I represented some clients - obviously over 30 years, I represented thousands of clients. 'But the attacks are [that] I represented some individuals with reprehensible political views. It's a bit like attacking a journalist for the person that they're interviewing or a doctor for the nature of their patient. 'Lawyers are professionally obliged to represent those who come to them for cases. You can't say no because you don't like someone's politics. 'The whole justice system falls apart if you do that. It's really important. So on a kind of political level, I am untroubled by attacks on that.' He added: 'Frankly, it tickles most of my family and friends that I'm being portrayed as some huge lefty, because that's not who I am. 'I'm progressive, and I'm deeply pragmatic in my politics.' Lord Hermer also used the interview to address charges of a 'two-tier' justice system in Britain. There were accusations that last summer's riots - in the wake of the Southport murders - were policed more strongly than past protests, with offenders given tougher sentences. Those claims were fuelled by Labour's early release of prisoners to tackle jail overcrowding. But Lord Hermer flatly rejected the label, saying: 'What some people were seeking to do, bringing up 'two-tier', was to make a comparison with the way that people were being treated for trying to kill police officers - and I want to reiterate that, kill police officers - with the response to protests on the streets of London. 'You can have views as to whether they're right protests or wrong protests, but they were not producing violence that you could even begin legitimately to compare to what was going on [during] the riots. That's where the two-tier comes from.' He added: 'I think it's offensive to our police. It's offensive to our crown prosecutors who are trying to apply the law in the best faith. It is offensive to the courts, where independent judges are applying the law to reach the right sentences. 'We don't have a two-tiered justice system. We have one justice system, that is an independent justice I think we all need to get behind it, not seek to undermine it.'
Telegraph
a day ago
- Politics
- Telegraph
Lord Hermer's idiocy is boundless
There is a long and ignominious tradition of idiotic comments by ministers thrust into the political centre-stage with no previous political background. But, fierce as the competition is, none of them come close to Lord Hermer for political idiocy. Speaking to the BBC, the Attorney General has said that accusations of a two-tier justice system are 'disgusting' and 'wrong', posing 'dangers' to the UK's 'essential institutions'. 'I think it's offensive to our police. It's offensive to our crown prosecutors who are trying to apply the law in the best faith. It is offensive to the courts, where independent judges are applying the law to reach the right sentences', he went on. We will come to the specifics of this in a moment. First, however – although you wouldn't know it given Lord Hermer's penchant for shooting his mouth on whatever he seems to think matters – it is important to note that the role of Attorney General is not meant to be that of government trouble-maker-in-chief. It is meant to be that of a quiet, sagacious legal adviser. Lord Hermer, however, seems to treat it as a chance to pretend to be a heavyweight politician whose opinions the world needs to know. Last month, for example, Lord Hermer told the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) that both Nigel Farage's Reform and Kemi Badenoch's Tories had adopted Nazi ideology by asserting that national law supersedes international agreements, in reference to the idea of withdrawing Britain from the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR): 'The claim that international law is fine as far as it goes, but can be put aside when conditions change, is a claim that was made in the early 1930s by 'realist' jurists in Germany, most notably Carl Schmitt'. It was a grotesque comparison for which he was later forced to issue a humiliating apology. Then there was his role in the handover of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, which he asserted was about 'honouring our obligations under international law' – even though the International Court of Justice's advisory opinion on the issue was not legally binding. It is remarkable how often Lord Hermer, a renowned KC, seems to speak before fully engaging his brings us to today's comments. Lord Hermer was referring to – dismissing, rather – accusations after the riots last summer, when it was argued that the rioters were treated unduly harshly. But he of all people will surely be aware that there is another element to accusations of two-tier justice, which he appears to have ignored altogether: the way in which the so-called Free Palestine marches have been allowed to continue with minimal intervention despite open chants calling for 'globalising the intifada' (ie killing Jews) and support for terror against Jews. I simply do not see how it is possible not to accept that there is two-tier justice, when the hate marches have not merely been protected by the police – but when counter-demonstrators condemning Hamas or peacefully waving Israeli flags have been arrested. Hermer clearly fancies himself as some sort of moral conscience, when in reality he is merely the latest – albeit the most exalted and most egregious – of political buffoons embarrassing himself and the Government of which he is a part.
Telegraph
a day ago
- Politics
- Telegraph
Lord Hermer: Two-tier justice claims are disgusting
Lord Hermer has labelled allegations of two-tier justice in Britain 'disgusting'. The Attorney General said the criticism, which is widely used by Conservative and Reform politicians, is 'offensive' to police, prosecutors and judges 'applying the law'. Lord Hermer, who is the Government's chief legal adviser, said politicians using the phrase need to think about the 'dangers' they are posing to the UK's 'essential institutions'. Speaking to the BBC, Lord Hermer said: 'What some people were seeking to do – bringing up 'two-tier' – was to make a comparison with the way that people were being treated for trying to kill police officers – and I want to reiterate that kill police officers – with the response to protests on the streets of London. 'You can have views as to whether they're right protests or wrong protests, but they were not producing violence that you could even begin legitimately to compare to what was going on [during] the riots. 'That's where the two-tier comes from. It is frankly disgusting to start to draw those types of comparisons.' He added: 'I think it's offensive to our police. It's offensive to our crown prosecutors who are trying to apply the law in the best faith. It is offensive to the courts, where independent judges are applying the law to reach the right sentences. 'We don't have a two-tiered justice system. We have one justice system, that is an independent justice I think we all need to get behind it, not seek to undermine it.' Claims that the UK operates a two-tier justice system emerged in the wake of last summer's riots, which broke out after the Southport murders. Critics argued that some rioters were treated more harshly than other protesters, and that the Government's decision to use tough sentences to dissuade rioting was at odds with their early release policy for prisoners to tackle overcrowding in jails. Two-tier justice allegations have become one of the most highly charged arguments against Sir Keir Starmer from the Right. Nigel Farage told The Telegraph that Lord Hermer's comments about two-tier justice were wrong. The Reform UK leader cited the case of Lucy Connolly, the mother jailed for 31 months in 2024 for inciting racial hatred after the Southport murders, whose sentence has been highlighted as an example of 'two-tier' justice. 'The public have lost trust in our judicial system and in people like Lord Hermer. The Lucy Connolly case shows that the public are right. We are disgusted,' Mr Farage said. Richard Tice, the deputy Reform leader, who introduced a bill in Parliament this week to give the public the right to appeal 'unduly harsh' sentences, said: 'It is Hermer who is wrong and disgusting, for being so out of touch and in denial. 'He is the real danger to trust in our justice system.' However, it is not just Reform or Conservative politicians that have taken the judiciary to task for an apparent 'two tier' approach . Shabana Mahmood, the Justice Secretary, intervened to block guidance by the sentencing council giving special treatment to criminals from ethnic, religious and gender minorities. She said it would lead to unacceptable 'differential treatment before the law'. The Attorney General, who has been friends with the Prime Minister since they worked in the same chambers in 1996, has been dogged by controversy since taking up the post. As a leading human rights barrister, he was criticised for his former clients, caused a backlash with his legal advice from some colleagues and warned Sir Keir that supporting Israeli strikes on Iran would breach international law. He also claimed that calls for the UK to leave the European Convention on Human Rights echoed Nazi Germany, later apologising for the 'clumsy' remarks. 'Hermer defends those who hate Britain' Robert Jenrick, the shadow justice secretary, urged Sir Keir to sack Lord Hermer, saying: 'Gerry Adams. Shamima Begum. Osama bin Laden's right-hand man. Lord Hermer has spent much of his life defending those who hate Britain.' Speaking on the BBC Radio 4 documentary Starmer's Stormy Year, Lord Hermer said he was 'untroubled' by criticism of his work as a barrister before entering politics. 'The attacks on me are based on the fact that I represented some clients – obviously over 30 years, I represented thousands of clients. But the attacks are [that] I represented some individuals with reprehensible political views,' he said. 'It's a bit like attacking a journalist for the person that they're interviewing or a doctor for the nature of their patient. Lawyers are professionally obliged to represent those who come to them for cases. 'You can't say no because you don't like someone's politics. The whole justice system falls apart if you do that. It's really important. So on a kind of political level, I am untroubled by attacks on that.' He added: 'Frankly, it tickles most of my family and friends that I'm being portrayed as some huge lefty, because that's not who I am. I'm progressive, and I'm deeply pragmatic in my politics.'
