DAILY MAIL COMMENT: Hermer should go over 9/11 terror case
One would be forgiven for being almost desensitised by the torrent of revelations about the Attorney General’s past career.
But the disclosure that Lord Hermer advocated for a 9/11 terror suspect in a battle against the British authorities is enough to rouse even the most jaded observer.
The Mail reveals today that Sir Keir Starmer‘s close friend represented a Saudi national who subsequently agreed to plead guilty to the massacre of 2,900 people in America’s worst terror attack.
The barrister, now Britain’s senior law officer, led Mustafa al-Hawsawi’s case at the Investigatory Powers Tribunal, claiming British spies were complicit in his ‘torture’ at the hands of the CIA.
Hermer argued al-Hawsawi, who has been held in Guantanamo Bay since 2006, should receive compensation from the British taxpayer.
Are there no depths to which Hermer would not stoop if he eyed an opportunity to lambast the British State?
Every criminal, every murderer, every terrorist is, of course, entitled to legal representation – that is a vital hallmark of a civilised society.
But what becomes unacceptable is when the lawyers who repeatedly keep this kind of company in their professional lives then become a linchpin of the Government.
Richard Hermer arrives in Downing Street to attend the weekly Cabinet meeting in London
British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer returns to Downing Street after attending the Prime Minister’s Questions
As we have set out many times before, this kind of pernicious clientele formed a mainstay of Hermer’s career at the Bar.
His Left-wing worldview poses a liability to the British people and he is unfit for high office.
The Prime Minister’s judgment is brought further into question with every day he permits Hermer to remain within the corridors of power.
Time to bite the bullet
The President of the United States, the secretary general of Nato and the EU president have spoken in chorus: European defence spending must increase.
To their shame, those not yet fully subscribed to this inescapably correct position include a range of European leaders and our own Prime Minister.
Labour is nowhere near setting out a timescale for its manifesto commitment to spend 2.5 per cent of GDP on our military, and yet is already facing calls for double that amount from an ebullient Donald Trump.
At the same time there appears, thankfully, to be serious talk about ending the war in Ukraine. Once that highly challenging negotiation is complete, the peace that – hopefully – follows will present equally difficult military challenges.
As Boris Johnson sets out in these pages today, it is time for Europe to ‘step up’ and ensure Ukraine is impregnable to further attack. Europe and the UK can no longer expect a blank cheque from Mr Trump’s White House – and nor should we.
One of the main reasons, if not the main reason, why Britain voted to leave the EU was to be the captain of our own destiny.
Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson writes in today’s Mail that it is time for Europe to ‘step up’ and ensure Ukraine is impregnable to further attack
US Vice President JD Vance outlined the Trump administration’s foreign policy plans in a speech at the Munich Security Conference this week
That was not just in relation to matters such as immigration, even though that is a critical issue as correctly identified by US Vice President JD Vance yesterday.
It was so we could live up to the greatest achievements of our past and lead from the front. Despite the straitened economic landscape, the Government must find a way to boost our defence spending.
Solutions are there to be had. Cancel the disastrous and costly Chagos Islands deal. Ensure some of the new defence spending is with US firms, to help alleviate Mr Trump’s threat of tariffs.
Slash the bloated foreign aid budget, Whitehall bureaucracy and the gargantuan benefits bill.
The time for action is now.
