Lord Hermer KC an “arrogant, progressive fool.”

The British Empire was racist and violent.

I had just finished my last piece on Lord Hermer KC when this headline was the front of the Telegraph website.

Lord Hermer KC ‘advised Caribbean nations on slavery reparations.’ Attorney General said to have helped human rights lawyers to prepare legal case for payments from Britain.

By lunchtime Lord Glassman, a leading Labour peer, called the Attorney General an “arrogant, progressive fool” and called for him to quit.

In what is supposed to be a ‘big reveal’ The Telegraph reports: “The Attorney General advised Caribbean nations seeking reparations for slavery, sources have claimed.

The Telegraph can reveal that Lord Hermer worked with the Caribbean Community (Caricom) when the group of 15 member states first drew up demands for payments from Britain, according to legal sources. Lord Hermer, now the chief legal adviser to the Government, is said to have helped human rights lawyers a decade ago to prepare a legal case for slavery reparations that Caribbean nations could bring against the UK.

Work on the proposed legal case began in 2013 when Caricom launched its campaign to secure compensation from former colonial powers. The plan for a legal battle was partly inspired by a 2013 case in which the British government was successfully sued by Kenyan victims of torture during the 1952 to1960 Mau Mau emergency.

Lord Hermer acted as counsel for the claimants after being engaged by human rights law firm Leigh Day. Caricom looked to Leigh Day for advice on how to bring a similar case, and it is understood legal advice was offered as part of this process by Lord Hermer, who in a 2020 podcast recalled “representing Caribbean nations on a potential reparations case.”

I find the news, that this is news surprising. I listened to another podcast presented by Lord Hermer KC at Matrix Chambers yesterday.

This podcast from the 18th of October 2022 was the following. “Richard Hermer KC, Helen Mountfield KC and Professor Caroline Elkins explore how the rule of law can be used as a weapon in the British colonial project and how it might be utilised to seek redress and accountability.