Shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick has attacked the Attorney General by parading in front of easels depicting Lord Hermer’s previous clients in his latest stunt video.
The former Conservative leadership candidate accused Lord Hermer of choosing to ‘defend Britain’s enemies’, adding: ‘Starmer should never have appointed him in the first place’.
The video saw Jenrick list a range of controversial figures including Gerry Adams and Shamima Begum, as he hit out at the peer following comments he made in a speech comparing calls to leave the ECHR to Nazi policies.
Also mentioned were several Islamist terrorists including a man involved in the 7/7 attacks on London transport who was previously known to be Osama Bin Laden’s ‘right-hand man’.
Lord Hermer has faced calls to resign from his role since making the comments, with Jenrick – who wants the UK to leave the ECHR – the latest to add fuel to the fire.
Now Jenrick has accused the Prime Minister of ‘sharing [Lord Hermer’s] views’ as he claimed: ‘Britain deserves better than the pair of them.’
Posting the clip online, Jenrick wrote: ‘Gerry Adams. Shamima Begum. Osama bin Laden’s right-hand man. Lord Hermer has spent much of his life defending those who hate Britain. Why on earth did Starmer hand-pick him to be Attorney General?’
It comes just days after a video showing Jenrick challenging fare evaders on London transport last week went viral after he attempted to make several people go back and pay their fare.
Shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick has attacked the Attorney General by parading in front of easels depicting Lord Hermer’s previous clients in his latest stunt video
Jenrick stood in front of a line of ten easels and listed a series of controversial clients including Shamima Begum and Gerry Adams
Lord Hermer (pictured) faced calls to resign last week after comparing leaving the ECHR to Nazi policies
Among the former clients of Lord Hermer listed by Jenrick was former Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams, who he represented in a damages claim brought by victims of IRA bombings.
After Adams won a defamation case against the BBC last week, Lord Hermer was asked about his previous work with the politician but declined to give any details.
He also intervened in the case of child ISIS bride Shamima Begum, who was groomed by the terror group along with two schoolfriends before all three travelled from the UK to Syria.
A complex legal battle ended with Begum being stripped of her British citizenship after she turned up in a refugee camp appealing to be allowed back to her native UK.
Lord Hermer argued she should have been allowed to return to the UK in order to participate in her appeal over the issue.
Other cases mentioned by Jenrick included representing asylum seekers, advocating for slavery reparations and his support for giving up the Chagos Islands.
This included the case of an Eritrean man who came to Britain claiming to be 16, but who was in fact 26.
But the most contentious cases highlighted by Jenrick involved clients linked to Islamist terror groups such as Al-Qaeda.
Among these is his work for former Guantanamo Bay detainee Mustafa Al-Hawsawi, who last year pleaded guilty to the murder of 2,900 people in the 9/11 terror attacks.
He also intervened in the case of child ISIS bride Shamima Begum, who was groomed by the terror group along with two schoolfriends before all three travelled from the UK to Syria
Among the former clients of Lord Hermer listed by Jenrick was former Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams
Rangzieb Ahmed, once known as Osama Bin Laden’s right-hand man, was linked to the 7/7 bombings in London
Jenrick claimed that as one of the country’s most eminent human rights lawyers, Lord Hermer would have had his pick of cases
Al-Hawsawi launched a claim against the MoD, MI5 and MI6 which was taken on by Lord Hermer in 2023 over allegations that British spies were complicit in ‘torture’ and ‘degrading’ treatment by the CIA.
He was involved in a preliminary hearing for the case in May 2023, but stopped working on it when he became Attorney General.
Lord Hermer also sought compensation from the British government for an Al-Qaeda chief linked to the 7/7 bombings in London in 2005 over alleged torture he suffered in Pakistan.
Rangzieb Ahmed, once known as Osama Bin Laden’s right-hand man, made the claim on the basis that UK police and security services should have a ‘joint liability’ over actions taken by Allies in the war on terror. The case was dismissed.
Lord Hermer represented the ringleader of another al-Qaeda plot, Abid Naseer, who headed up a terror cell in the northeast.
The Attorney General described MI5’s case against Naseer as ‘pitiful’ after it emerged he was involved in plotting to detonate a bomb at a Manchester shopping centre, and charges were not pressed in the UK.
Naseer was later found guilty in a US court of plotting to detonate a car bomb outside the shopping centre and then kill hundreds of Easter shoppers by placing suicide bombers at the exits.
And Jenrick drew attention to how Lord Hermer intervened and helped unfreeze assets belonging to Al-Qaeda terror suspect Mohammed al-Ghabra, after he was sanctioned by countries including the UK and USA.
Jenrick posted the video on his social media platforms on Tuesday morning, days after a previous stunt saw him challenge fare dodgers on the Tube
The stunt also saw him speaking ‘Gary the cabbie’ who explained taxi rank rules
Former Guantanamo Bay detainee Mustafa Al-Hawsawi, who last year pleaded guilty to the murder of 2,900 people in the 9/11 terror attacks
Lord Hermer represented the ringleader of another al-Qaeda plot, Abid Naseer, who headed up a terror cell in the northeast of England
Jenrick drew attention to how Lord Hermer intervened and helped unfreeze assets belonging to Al-Qaeda terror suspect Mohammed al-Ghabra – he denies all wrongdoing
Al-Ghabra has not been convicted of any offence and has always denied any wrongdoing.
The stunt video also saw Jenrick speak to a cabbie, who explained the black cab rule that any customer is always taken by the first taxi in any rank.
He argued that as one of the country’s most eminent human rights’ lawyers, Lord Hermer would have the choice to pick any of his cases, unlike many criminal lawyers, who must take whatever case is first in line.
Lord Hermer has faced backlash over his series of controversial clients in recent months, which only increased after his comments on those who wish for the UK to leave the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).
In a lecture at the Royal United Services Institute, a defence and security think-tank, he said the Labour Government had a ‘policy of progressive realism’ that means it will never leave international conventions such as the ECHR.
Numerous senior politicians on the Right have called for Britain to leave the convention after it stopped Rwanda deportation flights.
Lord Hermer said such ‘songs’ had been heard before, citing Nazi ideologist Carl Schmitt, who supported Hitler’s policies such as the Night of the Long Knives assassinations.
The Attorney General said: ‘Our approach is a rejection of the siren song that can sadly now be heard in the Palace of Westminster and in some spectrums of the media, that Britain abandons the constraints of international law in favour of raw power.
‘This is not a new song. The claim that international law is fine as far as it goes, but can be put aside when 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 in 1933, far-sighted individuals rebuilt and transformed the institutions of international law, as well as internal constitutional law.’
Jenrick has quite the opposite view and responded angrily to Lord Hermen’s comments.
He said: ‘The idea you can reform the ECHR is fanciful as it requires unanimity from all 46 signatories.
‘It is appalling Hermer would insinuate those who think we should leave the ECHR are like the Nazis.
‘[Foreign Secretary] David Lammy tried that disgusting smeer with Brexiteers and it didn’t work for him. It won’t work for Hermer either.’
An AGO Spokesperson said: ‘Law Officers such as the Attorney General will naturally have an extensive legal background and may have previously been involved in a wide number of past cases.
‘It is a feature and cornerstone of our legal system that legal professionals operate the Cab Rank rule when it comes to clients, and barristers do not associate themselves with their clients’ opinions.’
