Human rights lawyer Richard Hermer is the UK’s new attorney general [Alex McBride/Getty]
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has chosen a chief government legal adviser who previously assessed that a Conservative bill targeting the Palestinian-led boycott movement against Israel would hinder free speech.
Attorney General Richard Hermer, who will attend cabinet, is not currently a lawmaker and will be appointed as a member of the House of Lords, the UK’s upper chamber.
The human rights lawyer provided Labour with a legal opinion, published last year, on the former Conservative government’s anti-boycott bill, saying it would curtail freedom of speech.
“This very poorly drafted bill is likely to have a detrimental impact on the United Kingdom’s ability to protect and promote human rights overseas, is in certain respects inconsistent with our obligations under international law, will stifle free speech at home… will take powers long exercised by local authorities into the hands of the Secretary of State and will likely lead to an array of illogical outcomes,” his opinion read.
The bill, officially the Economic Activity of Public Bodies (Overseas Matters) Bill, ultimately did not become law after failing to complete the legislative process before the last parliament was dissolved ahead of Thursday’s general election.
At the election, Labour swept into power, winning more than 410 seats and securing a landslide majority of over 170.
Labour opposed the anti-boycott bill at the vote on its third reading in the House of Commons, the UK’s lower chamber. The party abstained at the stage prior, the second reading.
If the Conservative bill had become law, it would have prevented public bodies like councils from engaging in economic boycotts of foreign countries and territories, not restricted to just Israel.
In July 2023, the Jewish Chronicle newspaper reported that Hermer had said the “values of the independent Bar” mean he must evaluate the “meaning and effect of UK legislation” without “regard to my own personal views”.
“As it happens, I am from a ‘Blue-Box’ Jewish family,” he said, referring to pro-Israel donation boxes.
Hermer added that he had “dear family members serving” in the Israeli military and that he “actively supports a range of Jewish and Israeli organisations”.
He said he “also happens to believe” that “the continued Israeli occupation of the West Bank is unlawful”.
Hermer’s appointment is a snub to Emily Thornberry, the MP who had been fulfilling the equivalent role for Labour while the party was in opposition.
It also comes after five pro-Palestinian independents, including Jeremy Corbyn, who led Labour from 2015 to 2020, won seats at the general election on Thursday.
Labour has faced criticism over its handling of Israel’s war on Gaza, which began in October and has so far killed at least 38,098 people, according to the strip’s health ministry.
