Attorney General Richard Hermer has waded into the Trafalgar Square Muslim prayer row, telling The Guardian:
“Nick Timothy has said that mass prayer in public places is an act of ‘domination’. But when he and Kemi Badenoch were questioned about his appalling views, they seemed to only have an issue with Muslim events. Timothy and Badenoch’s comments beg the question – would they have a problem if I as a Jewish man, were praying in public? Or is it just Muslim prayer they find offensive, and contrary to ‘British values’? The Conservative Party, like Reform and Tommy Robinson, is seeking to divide Britain. Instead, they should be celebrating our brilliantly welcoming and diverse country.”
Starmer attempted to salvage a car-crash of a PMQs by calling for Timothy’s sacking. Now his best mate Hermer is getting involved. Badenoch says Timothy isn’t going anywhere…
The civil war over leasehold reform is hotting up inside Labour. Primary blocks to reforms – promised in the manifesto – are identified as the Treasury and Attorney General Richard Hermer…
Starmer is said to be close to a decision this week on the matter – he has to pick a side. Sources say Hermer has concerns about how reforms would interact with arcane EHRC provisions. He has been a blocker on the matter since Labour entered power. Guido can reveal there is a personal angle here…
According to public documents last year, Hermer won a ruling from a property tribunal confirming that his service charge bill of £37,142.86 for redecoration works, both internal and external, including leak repairs, was not payable for his period block of flats in London because the demands sent out were not compliant with the leasehold contract. If the freeholder still seeks to pursue the works and reissue the charges in the correct and proper way, the total bill per leaseholder would be reduced by nearly £12,000. Winning a personal tribunal battle is easy when you’re a well-heeled establishment lawyer. Ending leasehold for everyone else? Good luck with that…
Angela Rayner – who backed reform while in government – has today intervened in the debate:
“Labour made a promise to leaseholders that we would fix this injustice, but ministers are currently subjected to furious lobbying from wealthy investors trying to water this manifesto commitment down. There are those who argue we cannot act on our promise as it could risk a backlash from investors, including pension funds. It’s hardly surprising – the system works just fine for them.”
Plans for the reform bill to go ahead were blocked in December after HMT officials said a cap on ground rents could damage pension funds invested in freehold properties. Starmer’s lawyer friends have meanwhile been waging a war on the reforms in the courts. It’s all coming to head now…
The Hillsborough Law was withdrawn from the Commons late last night by the whips for the second time in a week after negotiations with campaigner families and Labour fell apart. Quite the result after Starmer claimed it was the moral insignia of Labour’s government…
The bill would impose a requirement on public officials to tell the truth in order to avoid future cover-ups. Its inability to work is baked-in…
Government figures were first frustrated by Richard Hermer’s work on the bill as its hypothetical provisions bounced around Whitehall departments. Campaigning families from groups like Hillsborough Law Now did not accept a proposed carve-out last week for intelligence officials who are sometimes required to protect sources and so on. Supported by backbench Labour MP Ian Byrne and Andy Burnham they also refused to agree to passing the third reading of the Public Office (Accountability) Bill and deal with additional amendments in the House of Lords to resolve outstanding issues. It’s now off the order paper entirely pending a rewrite…
Guido will inform co-conspirators when the 174-seat majority government manages to pass a bill. Could be a bit of a wait…
There are significant blocks in government to the progress of reforms to leasehold which were kicked off by the Tories and which Labour pledged to carry through expediently. It has been a go-slow since the election in reality…
At the Liaison Committee this week Starmer said he could no longer guarantee that the publication of the draft Leasehold and Commonhold Reform Bill would be before Christmas. Despite the government promising to do so since November last year…
Government sources tell Guido that the usual suspect Richard Hermer is causing a particular headache. The Attorney General’s fears about arcane ECHR legislation – i.e. his bread and butter – are stymieing the bill’s progress. The AG’s formal advice is so far unhelpful…
There is a leadership element. Labour sources say top Rayner ally Justin Madders had a key role in organising Labour MPs to write a letter urging the government not to backtrack on eliminating ground rent. Rayner could swing behind leasehold reform in her usual backbencher/populist tack…
Sadiq Khan has also today said the ministerial delay on reform is “a concern for City Hall.” Trouble under the Labour roof…
Attorney General Richard Hermer has been blamed for the suspension of SIGINT intelligence-sharing with the United States over the killing of drug-dealers in the Caribbean. Only Hermer could demolish Five Eyes…
Security sources tell Guido the order came directly from the human rights-obsessed Hermer. UK signals are no longer going to the Joint Interagency Task Force South stationed in Florida. UN human rights chief Volker Türk said that the strikes violate international law and amount to “extrajudicial killing,” an interpretation contested by the US. At the post-PMQs huddle Starmer’s spokesman did not deny that the instruction had come from Hermer. Could Downing Street do something helpful and brief against him instead of Streeting…
Darren Jones and Richard Hermer are in front of the Joint Committee on National Security Strategy to field questions from MPs on the collapsed China Spy Case. One of those rare committee sessions that is worth watching…
So far Hermer has backed the CPS: “Everything that I have seen shows me that this was a prosecution service working hard to try and secure a conviction.” Not the No10 line…
Speaking to Sky News off the back of Rachel Reeves’ Air Passenger Duty hike, Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary said:
“Labour is dependent on those Red Wall seats, and yet every move she makes poisons economic growth and damages the UK’s recovery… it’s the Chancellor who stumbles from policy misstep to policy misstep… I think her policy decisions are incredibly stupid.”