Cabinet Office chief blocks investigation into Attorney General’s ‘conflict of interest’ row

The Cabinet Office has rejected an investigation into the Attorney General’s potential conflicts of interest over his past clients, including Gerry Adams.

Sir Chris Wormald, the Cabinet Secretary, has written to Robert Jenrick, the shadow justice secretary maintaining that arrangements to avoid any conflict of interest have been applied and properly followed since Lord Hermer’s appointment.

Confirming the letter in a statement to the Commons, Lucy Rigby, the Solicitor General, said: “The Attorney General’s Office has a rigorous system in place to ensure that a law officer would not be consulted on any matter that could give rise to a potential conflict of interest.”

Mr Jenrick called for the investigation on Sunday after Lord Hermer refused to disclose if he had advised ministers on a series of cases involving his former clients, including Mr Adams, the former Sinn Fein leader.

It emerged last week that Labour was set to repeal a law that blocked Mr Adams from claiming compensation for his detention over his alleged terrorist connections in the 1970s.

Lord Hermer represented Mr Adams in a separate case where the former Sinn Fein president is being sued by the victims of three IRA bomb attacks.

Chagos Islands row

On Sunday, The Telegraph revealed that the Attorney General is also facing a fresh conflict of interest row after it emerged asylum seekers he previously represented were granted a “one-off” deal to come to Britain from the Chagos Islands months after his appointment.

The Attorney General’s office refused to say if he signed off the extraordinary deal.

A Government spokesman said law officers would have “an extensive legal background and may have previously been involved in a wide number of past cases”, but insisted there is a “robust system for considering and managing any conflicts that may arise”.

Lord Hermer has maintained that he is bound by the “longstanding convention” under which “the fact he may have advised or not advised, and the content of his advice, is not disclosed outside government, as is reflected in the Ministerial Code”.

The Solicitor General criticised the Tories for what she described as “cynical” behaviour in relation to their calls for an investigation into Lord Hermer.

Ms Rigby told the House of Commons: “There has been a really cynical linking in recent days by the Opposition of the Attorney General with some of his previous clients.”

She said she would not comment on specific cases in which the Government’s law officers were involved or on which they gave advice because of the convention. She said it was designed to enable the law officers to give full and frank advice to ministers.

While not saying whether Lord Hermer had recused himself in any cases, including Mr Adams, Ms Rigby said: “Where the Attorney General has conflict, he will recuse himself.”

‘Proper mechanisms for recusal’

Helen Grant, the shadow solicitor general, said the Tories were not raising concerns about Lord Hermer’s legal career but rather about the importance of government law officers recusing themselves when it is necessary.

She said: “The Attorney General previously represented former Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams in a damages claim brought forward by victims of IRA bombings.

“Indeed, we know that he received £30,000 for that representation. The constitutional propriety of our legal system demands absolute clarity, clarity on how conflicts of interest with former clients are managed at the very highest levels of government.

“This goes far beyond individual matters of advice. It strikes at the very heart of the proper administration of justice.

“Let me be absolutely clear. This is not about Lord Hermer’s career at the bar. This is about the proper mechanisms for recusal when matters concerning former clients come before Government.”

Ms Rigby also defended Lord Hermer over the so-called “cab rank” principle about his choice of clients.

“It is a central and well understood aspect of the British legal system... that barristers are required to accept instructions if they are available and qualified to do so,” she said.

She told Ms Grant: “She will also be very aware that put simply barristers are not their clients. As the Bar Council states, barristers do not choose their clients, nor do they associate themselves with their clients’ opinions or behaviour by virtue of representing them.”

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12:18 PM GMT

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11:49 AM GMT

Tory MP questions if Lord Hermer’s position is tenable

Tory MP Ben Obese-Jecty questioned if Lord Hermer’s role as Attorney General remained tenable.

He said: “The current Attorney General has a track record of taking up multiple cases against the British government. Given his previous work both with regard to Gerry Adams and the families of those making claims against UK special forces, on which matters will the Attorney General recuse himself from advising ministers owing to clear conflicts of interests?

“And if he is not able to fulfil the full scope of his role owing to his prior career, is his position even tenable?”

Lucy Rigby, the Solicitor General, replied: “I am afraid I couldn’t be more clear. I have already said that where the Attorney General has conflicts he will recuse himself.”

11:41 AM GMT

Senior Labour MP accuses Tories of playing politics over Lord Hermer row

Andy Slaughter, the Labour chairman of the Justice Select Committee, warned Tory attempts to pressure Lord Hermer, the Attorney General, into commenting publicly on whether he had given advice on a specific issue risked undermining the rule of law.

He said: “Would the Solicitor General agree that what the shadow solicitor general is asking her to do in a not very subtle way is to breach the law officers’ convention by the backdoor.

“If the Attorney General were to reveal whether or not he were able to advise on a particular issue that would reveal the fact that he had been asked to advise on it.

“The Opposition’s intention is clear, it is to gain party advantage. The effect is to undermine the rule of law.”

11:36 AM GMT

Solicitor General criticises ‘cynical’ Tories over calls for investigation

The Solicitor General criticised the Tories for what she described as “cynical” behaviour in relation to their calls for an investigation into Lord Hermer.

Lucy Rigby told the House of Commons: “There has been a really cynical linking in recent days by the Opposition of the Attorney General with some of his previous clients.”

11:34 AM GMT

Solicitor General: ‘Barristers are not their clients’

Lucy Rigby said Lord Hermer is a “very experienced barrister” and he had “represented high profile clients in a number of cases”

She said: “It is a central and well understood aspect of the British legal system... that barristers are required to accept instructions if they are available and qualified to do so.”

She told Helen Grant: “She will also be very aware that put simply barristers are not their clients. As the Bar Council states, barristers do not choose their clients, nor do they associate themselves with their clients’ opinions or behaviour by virtue of representing them.”

11:30 AM GMT

Tory calls for Cabinet Secretary investigation into Lord Hermer rejected

Solicitor General Lucy Rigby signalled the Cabinet Secretary Sir Chris Wormald had rejected Tory calls for an investigation into the Lord Hermer conflict of interest row.

She said: “I have outlined the rigorous process that exists in the Attorney General’s Office and has existed across administrations of all colours.

“The House may be aware that the shadow justice secretary [Robert Jenrick] has written to the Cabinet Secretary seeking clarity... on that process and an investigation into it, the Cabinet Secretary has today confirmed by reply that the Attorney General’s Office has a rigorous system in place to ensure that a law officer would not be consulted on any matter that could give rise to a potential conflict of interest.

“He has restated that these arrangements are long standing and part of a standard practice that has applied in successive administrations.”

11:24 AM GMT

Helen Grant: Proper management of conflicts of interest is not optional

Helen Grant, the shadow solicitor general, warned that “proper management of conflicts of interest at the highest levels of government legal service is not optional”.

She asked Lucy Rigby: “What assessment has been made of potential conflicts arising from his extensive litigation against the government?

“This all goes to the heart of public confidence in our legal system. The Prime Minister stood at that despatch box and promised this House a government of standards and integrity.

“The proper management of conflicts of interest at the highest levels of government legal service is not optional. It is fundamental to that promise.”

11:20 AM GMT

Tories demand to know if Lord Hermer has recused himself since becoming Attorney General

Helen Grant asked Lucy Rigby if Lord Hermer had recused himself “from any matters” since he became Attorney General.

She said: “The House must know what safeguards were in place to protect the public interest when such situations arise, especially regarding sections 46 and 47 of the Northern Ireland Troubles Act.

“And so I ask the Solicitor General what are the formal procedures for the Attorney General’s recusal in matters involving former clients?

“Has the Attorney General recused himself from any matters since taking office?”

11:17 AM GMT

Helen Grant: ‘ This is not about Lord Hermer’s career at the bar’

Helen Grant, the shadow solicitor general, said the Tories were not raising concerns about Lord Hermer’s legal career but rather about the importance of government law officers recusing themselves when it is necessary.

She said: “The Attorney General previously represented former Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams in a damages claim brought forward by victims of IRA bombings.

“Indeed, we know that he received £30,000 for that representation. The constitutional propriety of our legal system demands absolute clarity, clarity on how conflicts of interest with former clients are managed at the very highest levels of government.

“This goes far beyond individual matters of advice. It strikes at the very heart of the proper administration of justice.

“Let me be absolutely clear. This is not about Lord Hermer’s career at the bar. This is about the proper mechanisms for recusal when matters concerning former clients come before government.”

11:13 AM GMT

Solicitor General ‘not able to comment’ on specific details

Lucy Rigby said she could not comment on which specific issues the Government’s law officers are involved with or give advice on.

The Solicitor General told MPs: “I am therefore not able to comment on the specific details of legal advice provided by the law officers other than to note that of course decisions on policy are taken by the relevant secretary of state as indeed has been the case under successive governments.”

11:10 AM GMT

Potential conflicts of interest kept under review, says Solicitor General

Lucy Rigby said that where a conflict of interest is identified the Attorney General’s Office “takes steps to ensure that the law officer is appropriately limited in their involvement on matters related to the relevant area of government policy or related litigation”

“The list is kept under review and amended,” the Solicitor General said.

11:07 AM GMT

Attorney General’s Office has ‘rigorous process’ for dealing with conflicts of interest

Lucy Rigby said the Attorney General’s Office has an “established and rigorous process for identifying and dealing with conflicts and potential conflicts”.

The Solicitor General said that this process has long been in place.

She told the House of Commons that the Attorney General’s Office adopted a “cautious and beyond reproach threshold to any conflicts or potential conflicts”.

11:03 AM GMT

Urgent question now underway

The urgent question in the House of Commons is now underway.

It is Lucy Rigby, the Solicitor General, who is representing the Government.

10:56 AM GMT

Who will represent the Government at the urgent question?

Today’s urgent question about the Attorney General has been granted following a request from Tory MP Helen Grant who is the shadow solicitor general.

Given it is taking place in the House of Commons, it will not be Lord Hermer responding to it because he sits in the House of Lords.

Instead, the task of representing the Government is likely to fall to Lucy Rigby, a Labour MP who is the Solicitor General.

10:54 AM GMT

Ministers face grilling over Lord Hermer conflict of interest row

The Tories have been granted an urgent question in the House of Commons on the conflict of interest row surrounding Lord Hermer, the Attorney General.

Labour is repealing a law that blocked Gerry Adams, the former Sinn Fein leader, from claiming compensation for his detention over his alleged terrorist connections in the 1970s.

Lord Hermer represented Mr Adams in a separate case where the former Sinn Fein president was being sued by the victims of three IRA bomb attacks.

The Attorney General has insisted his work for Mr Adams was unconnected to the Government’s decision to repeal parts of the Legacy Act.

But he has been under pressure to disclose whether he recused himself from decisions when it was being discussed.