Hermer has been the subject of recent attacks by both the Opposition and his cabinet colleagues, including over the Chagos Islands and his cases against the British state
February 11, 2025 11:19
Labour Peer Lord Glasman has called for Attorney General Lord Hermer to resign from government over the Chagos Islands row, dubbing him an “arrogant, progressive fool”.
“He’s got to go. He is the absolute archetype of an arrogant, progressive fool who thinks that law is a replacement for politics… They talk about the rule of law but what they want is a rule of lawyers”, Glasman told the New Statesman in an interview.
Hermer, who along with Ed Miliband is one of two Jews to serve in Sir Keir Starmer’s cabinet, is a former colleague of the PM’s from when the pair were barristers together at Doughty Street chambers.
Last week, Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick attacked Hermer over his reported involvement in negotiations with Mauritius over the future of the Chagos Islands.
The talks regarding the islands, which are currently British territory and house a join UK-US military base, have sparked fury among conservatives, who accuse the government of trying to “surrender” them.
No decision has yet been reached, but reports have suggested that the islands would be handed over to Mauritius, while the UK would maintain a 99-year lease on the base at a cost of billions.
In response, Jenrick posted on X claiming that the government had agreed “to make massive concessions to the Mauritian Government. That includes an additional £9 billion payment to Mauritius for the privilege of taking our sovereign territory, taking the total fee to £18 billion, PLUS the right for Mauritius to veto extending the lease”.
Ministers have denied the revised £18 billion figure, insisting the cost will remain at £9 billion.
But Hermer’s legal past has featured regularly in Tory attacks on the government before the Chagos controversy.
In December, Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch brought up the fact that Hermer acted for human rights group Liberty on behalf of “ISIS bride” Shemima Begum.
Her legal team argued that depriving Begum – who left the UK age 15 to join the terror group – of her British citizenship undermines the rule of law and the right to a fair trial.
She told the Commons: "He said it was wrong when the Conservatives took away Shamima Begum's citizenship. Now he has appointed her defence lawyer as his Attorney General."
Other Conservatives have sought to highlight the fact that Hermer has, in the past, acted for Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams, who has long been accused of being a senior IRA leader during the Troubles (claims he has always denied).
However, the Times has reported that some of Hermer’s own cabinet colleagues have also attacked his “finickity” interpretation of the law, which they claim have created a “freeze on government”.
Labour Peer Lord Glasman was the only Labour figure to be invited to President Donald Trump’s inauguration last month.
The architect of Blue Labour, a group within Labour that advocates for more socially conservative positions with a more left-wing economic outlook, he gained national headlines earlier this year when his was one of the first Labour-affiliated organisations to call for a national inquiry into the grooming gangs scandal, a move initially resisted by the government.
Glasman, a JFS old boy who grew up in an Orthodox family in Palmers Green, has previously spoken about a “constant battle” against left-wing antisemitism.
“There’s always been an element on the left that does have that kind of conspiracy theory of capitalism and the Jews...Then you’ve got Israel and the Israel lobby. I’ve had to deal with that my whole life”, the former adviser to Ed Miliband told the JC in an interivew in 2019.