{"id":143086,"date":"2025-05-30T03:33:09","date_gmt":"2025-05-30T03:33:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/143086\/"},"modified":"2025-05-30T03:33:09","modified_gmt":"2025-05-30T03:33:09","slug":"labours-legal-adviser-compares-reform-and-tories-to-nazi-germany-uk-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/143086\/","title":{"rendered":"Labour\u2019s legal adviser compares Reform and Tories to Nazi Germany | UK | News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sir Keir Starmer\u2019s chief legal officer has come under fire after drawing a controversial parallel between Conservative and Reform UK policies on international law and Nazi Germany, reports The Times.<\/a><\/p>\n

Lord Hermer, Labour\u2019s attorney-general, warned that Britain must be prepared to reform international agreements such as the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) to ensure they retain \u201cdemocratic legitimacy\u201d. However, his comparison between current political stances and the legal thinking that underpinned 1930s Germany has raised eyebrows across the political spectrum.<\/p>\n

Referring specifically to Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch\u2019s call to \u201cdisengage\u201d from the ECHR and other international bodies that no longer serve British interests, Lord Hermer likened such a \u201cpick and mix\u201d approach to the ideas promoted by Nazi jurist Carl Schmitt. Schmitt famously argued that state power should override legal constraints\u2014an ideology that helped justify Adolf Hitler\u2019s authoritarian rule.<\/p>\n

In a speech at the Royal United Services Institute, Lord Hermer said: \u201cThe 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 \u2018realist\u2019 jurists in Germany, most notably Carl Schmitt, whose central thesis was in essence the claim that state power is all that counts.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cOur approach is a rejection of the siren song, that can sadly now be heard in the Palace of Westminster, not to mention the press, that Britain abandon the constraints of international law in favour of raw power.\u201d<\/p>\n

Schmitt\u2019s ideas were instrumental in allowing Hitler to bypass Germany\u2019s constitution and assume dictatorial powers in 1933. Reform UK\u2019s previous policy called for a full withdrawal from the ECHR and the Strasbourg-based European Court of Human Rights.<\/p>\n

Although Lord Hermer\u2019s comments triggered fierce backlash, sources close to him were quick to clarify he was not comparing right-wing politicians to Nazis, stressing he believed they were \u201cacting in good faith\u201d and were \u201cpatriots\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe (Hermer) is the son of a former Conservative councillor, who sees this as nothing but a good-faith argument in the British family,\u201d said one source. \u201cThe attorney-general sees those on the other side of this debate as patriots acting in good faith \u2014 but deeply misguided because ripping up international law will only help those who want a lawless world like Vladimir Putin<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, critics were quick to slam Hermer\u2019s remarks. Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick said: \u201cIt 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\u2019t work for him. It won\u2019t work for Hermer either.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jenrick also poured cold water on Hermer\u2019s ambitions to reform the ECHR, calling the idea \u201cfanciful\u201d due to the need for unanimous agreement from all 46 signatory nations.<\/p>\n

While Lord Hermer emphasised the need to respect and comply with international institutions, he insisted that the law must continue to evolve.<\/p>\n

\u201cInternational law cannot and must not replace politics. As we have shown time and again as a nation, from a position of respect and compliance . . . reform is possible and institutions can be reformed. We must be ready to reform where necessary,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sir Keir Starmer\u2019s chief legal officer has come under fire after drawing a controversial parallel between Conservative and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":143087,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5310],"tags":[61820,2000,299,32986,20868,1824,8414,528,61819],"class_list":{"0":"post-143086","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-germany","8":"tag-carl-schmitt","9":"tag-eu","10":"tag-europe","11":"tag-european-convention-on-human-rights","12":"tag-european-court-of-human-rights","13":"tag-germany","14":"tag-labour","15":"tag-labour-party","16":"tag-nazi-germany-comparison"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114594683549917287","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143086","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=143086"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143086\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/143087"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=143086"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=143086"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=143086"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}