Former president of the Supreme Court Lady Hale has made headlines this weekend after telling Times Radio that any judge has to uphold the law, whether domestic or international. Hacks like Cathy Newman claimed she’d heaped pressure on the Justice Secretary and the Attorney General…

Unfortunately for those hoping to continue the now-settled row over the Internal Market Bill, Guido’s has discovered some interesting contradictory cases from Baroness Hale’s past, which show her commitment to adhering international law hasn’t always been quite so clear cut:

• In 2015, Hale agreed with Lord Mance that “The United Kingdom takes a dualist approach to international law”, in other words, if international law is not incorporated into UK law by parliament, ministers (a) can ignore it but (b) they can follow it if they want to.
• In 2012, Lady Hale said she preferred to apply the intention of the UK Parliament over the relevant international EU law because the liberty of the subject (Assange) was involved
• In 2014, Hale used a speech to say that recent cases focusing on UK constitutional rights and those on the relationship between EU law and our constitutional order have grown “awareness of the extent to which the UK’s constitutional principles should be at the forefront of the court’s analysis.”

Some may ask why Lady Hale’s opinions changed in this case involving Boris, though Guido readers will remember her previous failures to avoid being overtly political…