LABOUR’S Attorney General sparked fury last night after likening mounting calls to disregard international law with the rise of Nazi Germany.
Lord Richard Hermer yesterday took aim at the Tories after Kemi Badenoch said she will review remaining with the European Court of Human Rights.
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She is among many who have criticised Strasbourg edicts for blocking Britain from deporting foreign criminals.
In a speech at the Royal United Services Institute yesterday, Cabinet Minister Lord Hermer said Labour’s approach was to reject the “siren song” from some MPs that the UK “abandons the constraints of international law in favour of raw power.”
He added: “This is not a new song. The claim that international law is fine as far as it goes, but can be put aside when the conditions change, is a claim that was made in the early 1930s by ‘realist’ jurists in Germany most notably Carl Schmitt, whose central thesis was in essence the claim that state power is all that counts, not law.
“Because of the experience of what followed 1933, far-sighted individuals rebuilt and transformed the institutions of international law, as well as internal constitutional law.”
The year 1933 was the year that Adolf Hitler rose to power as German Chancellor.
They were not mentioned by name, but the Tories said that a comparison was made.
Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick said: “It is appalling that Hermer would insinuate those who think we should leave the ECHR are like the Nazis.
“David Lammy tried that disgusting smear with Brexiteers and it didn’t work for him – it won’t work for Hermer either. It seems Labour haven’t learned a thing.”
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