Richard Hermer | |
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![]() Official portrait, 2024 | |
Attorney General for England and Wales Advocate General for Northern Ireland | |
Assumed office 5 July 2024 | |
Prime Minister | Keir Starmer |
Preceded by | Victoria Prentis |
Member of the House of Lords Lord Temporal | |
Assuming office TBD | |
Personal details | |
Born | Richard Simon Hermer September 1968 (age 55) Wales |
Political party | Labour |
Education | University of Manchester ( BA) |
Richard Simon Hermer KC (born September 1968) [1] is a British barrister who has served as Attorney General for England and Wales and Advocate General for Northern Ireland since July 2024. [2] [3] [4] He is due to be conferred a life peerage. [3]
Hermer was born and raised in Wales, and attended Cardiff High School. [5] He is from a " blue-box" Jewish family. [6] He studied politics and modern history at the University of Manchester. [7] He is a former sabbatical officer of the Union of Jewish Students. [8]
Hermer was called to the bar in October 1993, [9] and was appointed Queen's Counsel (QC) in 2009. [4] He joined Doughty Street Chambers in 1993, three years after it was set up, where he got to know founding member Keir Starmer, who later gave the toast at Hermer's silk ceremony in 2009. [10] Hermer later moved to work for Matrix Chambers, [8] [5] where he was a colleague of Sarah Sackman. [11] [7]
In November 2019, Hermer was appointed a Deputy High Court Judge following an open competition by the Judicial Appointments Commission. [12]
On 5 July 2024, Hermer was appointed Attorney General under Prime Minister Keir Starmer, succeeding Victoria Prentis. [3] His appointment to the position was reported as a surprise, [13] [14] [15] since Labour MP Emily Thornberry had served in Starmer's shadow cabinet as the Shadow Attorney General. [16] [17] In response to the decision, [18] Thornberry said that Hermer was a "much more accomplished lawyer" than she could ever hope to be and that she knew Hermer would do an "outstanding job" in the position. [19] [20] [21] On 15 July, Hermer was officially sworn into the position at the Royal Courts of Justice by the Lady Chief Justice of England and Wales, Baroness Carr of Walton-on-the-Hill, alongside Lord Chancellor Shabana Mahmood and Solicitor General Sarah Sackman. [22] In his swearing-in speech, Hermer stated that legal analysis of the law officers would "always be guided by law not politics", and that it was their "job to speak truth to power." [23]
In May 2023, Hermer was amongst many lawyers who signed a Lawyers for Palestinian Human Rights letter addressed to Foreign Secretary James Cleverly, which called on the government to constructively participate in the International Court of Justice advisory opinion on the legal consequences of the actions of Israel in occupied Palestinian territory including East Jerusalem. [24]
In July 2023, Hermer stated that he believed that the "continued Israeli occupation of the West bank" was "unlawful, deeply damaging to the interests of Israel and wholly contrary to the values of tikkun olam" which Hermer grew up with and continued to be guided by. [6]
In October 2023, Hermer was amongst eight prominent Jewish lawyers, which included former Supreme Court President Lord Neuberger, who signed an open letter to call on Israel to follow international law in its response to the 7 October attacks. [25] Later that month, in an interview with LBC whilst speaking to Sangita Myska, he said that it was "impossible to conceive" how Israel's siege was "in compliance with international law." [26] He went onto say that "for a very long time" Israel has had "effective control" over the borders of Gaza, who he said were reliant on the "need to have electricity, water and food coming in"; and that the "cutting of that off" was "very, very difficult to reconcile with obligations of international law" and described that as a "deliberate understatement" from him. [26]
Hermer acted for Liberty, a human rights group that argued the Court of Appeal had correctly decided to allow Shamima Begum to return to the UK, which was an intervenor in Begum v Home Secretary. [27] [28] In written submissions, he said that the deprivation of citizenship was an "extremely draconian power" which could expose Begum to rendition and targeted drone strikes", stating that the consequences could be "fatal." [29] [30]
In March 2022, Hermer was appointed to a legal task-force, alongside other leading international human rights lawyers including Lord Neuberger, by the Government of Ukraine on the accountability for crimes committed in Ukraine to deliver for victims of international crimes committed by Russia in Ukraine. [31]
In July 2023, he acted as an advisor to the Labour Party regarding the proposed Economic Activity of Public Bodies bill. [6] In his opinion which was commissioned by David Lammy and Lisa Nandy, [32] Hermer described Clause 1 of the bill as "appallingly badly drafted" and said that the bill would "stifle free speech at home", and also said that it would have a "profoundly detrimental impact" on the ability of the UK to "protect and promote humans rights overseas." [6] [33] Conservative MP, Simon Clarke, whilst addressing Communities Secretary Michael Gove, pointed out in the House of Commons that Hermer had authored a chapter in the book titled "Corporate Complicity in Israel's Occupation: Evidence from the London session of the Russell Tribunal on Palestine", which Clarke said was edited by some "interesting" people Clarke feared "in the most negative sense", and went on to ask if Hermer was really the "calibre of individual" who should have been advising the opposition. [6] In response, Gove said that Hermer had a "record" in the area and a "record of political commitments" which everyone could see "clearly predisposes him towards a political and particular view" on the question. [6] Hermer later responded by stating that the questions inferred that his analysis was somehow influenced by some form of malign intent towards Israel, but Hermer said that "it was not." [6]
In a public inquiry into the killing of 80 civilians by the SAS in Afghanistan, Hermer represented Mansour Aziz and families of the 33 victims. [34] [35] On 9 October 2023, in his opening statement on behalf of the families, he said that he would seek to find evidence "capable of suggesting" that the SAS were "applying a practice of unlawfully killing Afghan civilians"; later saying that this meant they were "conducting a campaign of murder" which he said was a "war crime amounting to grave breaches of the Geneva convention." [36] [37] He also stated on 11 October that the existence of serious suspicions of extra-judicial killings were "widely known at the highest levels of government … even in 10 downing street." [38] [39] Following evidence that the SAS deleted data from its computers which was in breach of promises it had made to the Royal Military Police, Hermer said that it was at best "highly suspicious", and at worst a "patent and criminal attempt to pervert the course of justice." [40]
In November 2023, Hermer led the legal team and was the barrister for former Sinn Féin President, Gerry Adams, following damage claims of £1 brought against Adams and the Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA) by victims of bombings. [41] In court, he argued that the PIRA was a "unincorporated association" that was "incapable in law of being sued." [41] In a written case outline to Justice Michael Soole, he also argued against the claims of Adams as a "representative" of the PIRA, but did not argue that entire claims against Adams should be struck out. [42] In January 2024, Justice Soole ruled that the claimants could not sue the PIRA or Adams as a "representative", but could continue in a personal capacity. [43] [44]
Hermer is Jewish and is a member of Alyth synagogue. [8] He is fan of Welsh rugby teams. [2] He is a father. [45] In July 2023, he said that he had family members who were currently serving in the Israel Defense Forces. [6]
Hermer was sworn into the Privy Council on 10 July 2024, entitling him to be styled " The Right Honourable" for life. [46]
Hermer donated £5,000 to Keir Starmer's campaign in the 2020 Labour Party Leadership election. [47]
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