Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick has launched a fresh attack on Attorney General Lord Richard Hermer, claiming that “time after time” he has “represented people against the British Government”.
Speaking to GB News, Jenrick told host Patrick Christys that Lord Hermer’s position is becoming “increasingly untenable” unless he is “transparent” with the British public.
In a letter seen by GB News, the Shadow Justice Secretary previously expressed his concern to the Lords Commissioner for Standards over the “absence of any declarations relating to his [Lord Hermer’s] previous works at Matrix Chambers”.
He said: “This omission is particularly significant given Lord Hermer’s position as Attorney General and his extensive practice at the Bar.
Jenrick claimed Attorney General Lord Richard Hermer has ‘represented people against the Government’
GB News
“The matter warrants investigation for several reasons … Barristers typically receive payments significantly in arrears of their work, often months or years after services are rendered. This is especially pertinent in cases involving Conditional Fee Arrangements (CFAs), which Matrix Chambers routinely offer.”
Putting more pressure on Lord Hermer, Jenrick the People’s Channel that the issue “could be cleared up tomorrow” if the Attorney General disclosed the information.
Jenrick stated: “If he won’t be honest and transparent, then I think his position is going to become increasingly untenable because people are going to ask, in whose interests is this man serving – his own and those of his former clients? Or the British people?
“These are some of the most controversial people and causes in our lifetime. Shamima Begum, Gerry Adams, against our special forces on the Chagos Islands, illegal migrants. And he’s not being clear about which of these he’s recused himself on.”
Attorney General Lord Richard Hermer has refused to declare future earnings from legal cases undertaken before joining Sir Keir Starmer’s Government
PA
When pressed by Patrick on the Government’s defence, Jenrick hit back by saying that he is waiting with “bated breath” for him to “declare everything”.
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS:
Jenrick fumed: “The Government, advised by the Attorney General’s office, decided not to proceed with a winnable appeal, the consequence of which is going to be paying out hundreds of IRA terrorists and sympathisers, including Gerry Adams, potentially millions of pounds of taxpayers money. I think your viewers will be disgusted by that.
“That is an inexplicable decision for any British Government to take. It’s a frankly un-British thing to do.
“You’re going to have the victims of the IRA having their taxes, paying bumper payouts for the very terrorists and sympathisers who did this to them and their families, and you’ve got an Attorney General sat around the cabinet table who was Gerry Adams’s lawyer.”
Lord Hermer previously represented Gerry Adams in a case concerning the victims of three IRA bomb attacks and unsuccessfully took the UK Government to court on behalf of a group of Sri Lankan asylum seekers in the Chagos Islands.
Jenrick told GB News that the decision by the Labour Government over Gerry Adams is ‘un-British’
GB News
A spokesman for the Attorney General’s Office said: “The public can be assured that there are rigorous systems in place to ensure that law officers (who have extensive legal background and a wider number of past cases) would not be consulted on any cases that could give rise to a conflict of interest.”
A Government spokesman added: “There are well-established rules governing ministerial interests and conflicts, and as Robert Jenrick’s own letter makes clear, the Attorney General has properly declared interests from his previous role.
“These rules sit alongside rigorous and long-standing protocols to ensure all Law Officers are not consulted on issues that give rise to conflicts of interest.”