Keir Starmer’s embattled authorized chief’s overly ‘finickity’ method is blamed for ‘freezing’ selections – now even Labour critics are lining as much as recommend he is… Lord Bottleneck

Sir Keir Starmer‘s embattled law chief is facing a Cabinet backlash for ‘freezing’ government decisions with his overly cautious approach.

Lord Hermer KC has already been accused by the Tories of conflicts of interest and secrecy over the clients he represented before entering Parliament.

Now the Attorney General has been hit by hostile briefings from his own Labour colleagues about his guidance on legal risk.

Under rules he introduced late last year, government lawyers must now warn ministers their policies are unlawful if they think they could not be properly argued in court. Those with a high risk of failing can only be put forward as a last resort.

Ministers told The Times that Lord Hermer is pushing back on policies even when there is only a slim chance of them being defeated by legal challenges.

A source said: ‘He seems to think – and has said as much – that international law is more important than national law, and that’s totally insane.

‘It’s a massive misunderstanding of how the public see their Government and the laws that are made in this country. He thinks he makes policy. He doesn’t, but he gets involved in everything and he’s an activist. It’s causing this freeze on Government.’

Another insider called him ‘finickity’ and claimed he had become more ‘obstructive’ in recent months, saying: ‘There have been things that have gone to the wire because he’s still got problems.’

Lord Hermer KC has already been accused by the Tories of conflicts of interest and secrecy over the clients he represented before entering Parliament

Sir Keir Starmer is said to have ‘absolute confidence’ in Lord Hermer

Tory peer Lord Frost said: ‘Being a friend of the PM won’t help him once he starts to become a pain in Government’

Government lawyers are said to have delayed decisions on new measures to tackle illegal migration as well as the Hillsborough law forcing public bodies to co-operate with investigations

Lord Hermer was challenged by Labour backbencher Sarah Russell in January over the ‘chilling effect’ of his legal risk guidance on the Government taking on commercial interests.

‘Giving evidence to the justice committee, he insisted: ‘If we are confident in our policies, having decided that these are policies we want to take, if we are confident in their legality or comfortable with the degree of legal risk, the mere fact that it is a well-resourced defendant on the other side will not stop Government, I imagine, in moving forward.’

Concerns have also been raised over ‘conflicts of interest’ issues, with the barrister in recent weeks coming under fire for refusing to disclose his earnings for representing the likes of Gerry Adams, Shamima Begum and a Guantanamo Bay detainee.

Lord Hermer, who represented the former Sinn Fein leader as a specialist human rights lawyer, has refused to reveal if he played a role in a proposed law change which paves the way for his former client to get taxpayer-funded compensation for being interned in the 1970s.

He has been accused of ‘hiding behind’ the law officers’ convention by saying it prevents him from disclosing which matters he had or had not advised on.

He has also admitted he recused himself from some decisions because of potential conflicts of interest with his previous briefs.

Concerns have also been raised over ‘conflicts of interest’ issues, with the barrister in recent weeks coming under fire for refusing to disclose his earnings for representing the likes of Gerry Adams and Shamima Begum

Government lawyers are said to have delayed decisions on new measures to tackle illegal migration (Pictured: People, believed to be migrants, disembark from a British Border Force vessel as they arrive at the Port of Dover on January 15, 2025)

Last night Tory justice spokesman Robert Jenrick told the Mail: ‘Lord Hermer is uniquely ill-placed to be Attorney General. He is mired in a cloud of suspicion as he’s hiding his financial interests.

‘He can’t provide advice on a range of critical matters because he represented so many clients against the British Government. And the advice he does actually provide stops ministers from getting anything done.’

Tory peer Lord Frost added: ‘The knives are already out. Being a friend of the PM won’t help him once he starts to become a pain in Government.’

Asked if the PM was concerned about the briefings, a No 10 spokesman said yesterday: ‘We wouldn’t comment on anonymous briefings and sources as a matter of principle. The Attorney General is getting on with the important work of government.’

He said Sir Keir has ‘absolute confidence’ in Lord Hermer.