There is mounting frustration with attorney general Richard Hermer among government insiders. Clearly enough in the pre-emptive and extremely wide briefing this week that he was threatening to block US bombers going from the base on Diego Garcia…
A Downing Street source tells Guido Hermer’s obstruction continues to cause blockages. His work on duty of candour obligations – which Labour promised to apply to all public authorities through the Hillsborough Law – has caused massive delays. One source said:
“He managed to add months of work for zero value and we are back where we started.”
Guido hears Starmer’s veteran fixer Pat McFadden along with Nick Thomas Symonds and Shabana Mahmood are particularly incensed by Hermer. Sources say the attorney general is offering legal advice when it has not been asked for – to the chagrin of ministers…
Despite pressure on the PM from insiders to get rid of Richard the PM is still backing his human rights lawyer friend. He has weathered waves of briefings before. Starmer would be taking a jump into the unknown by dropping his old world mate – something only a leader would do…
Shadow national security minister Alicia Kearns told Times Radio she would have put a precondition on a China trip if she were PM:
“I would have put a precondition that I was not going to go if I was prime minister, unless Jimmy Lai was coming home with me. I would also put a precondition in the six months leading up to the visit that I wanted a reduction in hostile acts against our country. But that’s not what we saw. And actually, in contrast, what we saw was clearly the Chinese Communist Party did put a precondition, which was that the new embassy in London had to be signed off. So why is it okay for China to set preconditions and to make very clear red lines about what they require for a visit, but we go without having put any ourselves?”