An interesting nugget this morning in The Times revealing Starmer’s 2013 jolly to Port Louis, Mauritius, to deliver a legal lecture – but the paper does not reveal what he said. It was prior to him becoming an MP, he had just stood down as DPP…
Guido can go much further and reveal that in his lecture ‘Human Rights, Victims and the Prosecution of Crime in the 21st Century’ published in the Mauritius Criminal Law Review, ODPP, 2013 Edition, Sir Keir Starmer QC wrote:
“The legal arrangements in Mauritius are fascinating and, I think, unique. As I understand it, at least in the criminal justice field, the French Penal Code remains the basis of the substantive law, but since the Treaty of Capitulation of 1810, criminal procedure is almost exclusively English and subject to local enactments, the whole of the English law of evidence is applicable in Mauritius. An adversarial criminal justice system built on a Penal Code designed for use in civil law jurisdictions!”
While bloviating in Mauritius Starmer was able to enjoy the luxury beach resort and spa available to him. The Times’s investigation has stopped short of asking another obvious question – was he paid for his time, and did he enter into discussions regarding Chagos?
According to the US Department of State’s latest analysis Mauritius’s own record isn’t exactly glowing: “significant human rights issues included credible reports of: arbitrary arrest or detention; extensive gender-based violence, including domestic or intimate partner violence and sexual violence; and trafficking in persons, including forced labor. The government took credible steps to identify and punish officials who may have committed human rights abuses, but enforcement was not consistent.” Labour’s web of pro-Mauritius ties shows something very odd is going on here…
Sarah Pochin at Reform Scotland’s manifesto launch event: “I really wanted to come on in a Reform tartan burka, but apparently I wasn’t allowed… One day let’s do one of these events not live-streamed. We’ll do all the naughty stuff…”