Today three judges ruled in favour of the Home Office and overturned the temporary injunction blocking asylum seekers from being housed in an Epping hotel. One of the judges, Lord Justice David Bean, has a history of Labour links…
Bean was a former Treasurer for the Society of Labour Lawyers. The group openly calls itself an “affiliated socialist society” providing legal and policy advice to the Labour Party. And to Labour MPs…
The judge who initially granted the temporary injunction, Mr Justice Eyre, stood as a Tory candidate in four elections between 1987 and 2004. Lord Justice Bean was also a founding member of left-leaning law firm Matrix Chambers, whose former members include Attorney General Lord Hermer and Mauritius’ chief legal adviser on the Chagos surrender deal Philippe Sands KC. Both close friends of Keir Starmer…
Tom Baldwin, author of Starmer’s hagiography, spoke to Times Radio:
Tom Baldwin: “I think he’d like to do something. He’s very dutiful and driven by service. That’s why he came into politics. I think that’s characterised his time as prime minister. He hasn’t always sought popularity or been good at being popular. But I think he has some of the necessary qualities that we actually do want in a prime minister. That resilience, that relentlessness, that ability to carry the weight and the job really does weigh very heavily on people and he carries that weight very, very well.”
Jo Coburn: “NATO Secretary-General?”
Tom Baldwin: “I think that’s something that he would be interested in. I think it probably requires Andy Burnham’s government to support him in that and these are some of the questions which Andy Burnham has to resolve quite quickly.”