The KC who represented seven Afghan families who claim their relatives were murdered by British special forces might end up overseeing the prosecution of the soldiers.
Richard Hermer KC, a human rights specialist, appeared before the Independent Inquiry Relating to Afghanistan when it opened in London last October to say that the allegations against the armed forces were “of the utmost gravity”.
The barrister, who is based at Matrix Chambers in Gray’s Inn, the set founded in 2000 by Cherie Blair KC, went on to tell the inquiry’s chairman, Lord Justice Haddon-Cave, that “members of the SAS were applying a practice of unlawfully killing Afghan civilians”.
He added that there was evidence that British special forces “were conducting a campaign of murder”.
On the day after Sir Keir Starmer swept into Downing Street with a huge Labour majority, Hermer was drafted into the House of Lords so that he could be appointed as attorney-general.
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The “AG” — as the role is known in legal circles — is the government’s chief law officer, who sits in cabinet meetings and oversees the director of public prosecutions. In turn, the DPP is in charge of the Crown Prosecution Service, which brings criminal cases to court in England and Wales.
As a result of that whirlwind promotion, Hermer would oversee any prosecutions emanating from the Afghanistan inquiry if they were brought in civilian courts.
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Hermer, 55, is well known to the new prime minister. Before joining Matrix, the barrister was a tenant at Doughty Street, the chambers where Starmer was based for many years before he became DPP and was then elected to parliament.
Starmer was so keen to appoint his former stablemate that he risked the wrath of his fellow barrister MP Emily Thornberry, who spent the three years before the general election as shadow attorney-general. When she failed to get the call for the actual job itself, Thornberry said on social media that she was disappointed.
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Hermer is no stranger to controversy. Last year he faced criticism from Conservative MPs and Michael Gove, then the communities secretary, after it emerged that he had advised the Labour front bench on the impact of a bill that would have limited the ability of public bodies to boycott foreign governments.
It was noted in parliament that Hermer contributed a chapter to a 2011 book that had been edited by anti-Israel campaigners. Hermer himself is Jewish and he pointed out last year to the Jewish Chronicle that he was brought up in a “blue-box” family — shorthand for firm Zionists — and that he had “dear family members” who were at the time serving in the Israel Defence Forces.
He added, however, that “the continued Israeli occupation of the West Bank is unlawful [and] deeply damaging to the interests of Israel”.
