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The UK Prime Minister and Home Secretary are accused of endangering the personal safety of lawyers through their abusive attacks on the profession and should apologize, more than 800 former judges and senior legal figures said at a letter sent to The Guardian.
Boris Johnson and Priti Patel are also accused in the letter of displaying “hostility” towards lawyers, undermining the rule of law and putting the lives of those who work in the judicial system at risk.
The signatories include three former UK Supreme Court Judges, five retired Appeal Court Judges, three former High Court Judges, the Head Counsel of four Oxford University faculties, more than 80 QCs, 69 Law Professors from leading English universities, the directors of Liberty and Justice, as well as hundreds of partners from law firms, lawyers and solicitors.
The letter is the largest coordinated response yet to the increasingly vehement rhetorical attacks on the legal profession by the two conservative politicians.
In August, the Home Office posted a video on Twitter blaming “activist lawyers” for thwarting the department’s efforts to deport people without the right to stay in the UK. The video was later removed.
Earlier this month, at the Conservative Party conference, Patel broadened his objectives, claiming that among those who defended the “indefensible” and “broken” immigration appeals system were “benefactors, leftist lawyers, the Labor Party.”
In his speech at the conference, Johnson went further, stating that he would prevent “the entire criminal justice system from being paralyzed by what the Home Secretary would undoubtedly – and rightly – call leftist human rights lawyers and others. benefactors ”.
Last week, a man appeared in court accused of carrying out a racist attack on an immigration law firm in London. Cavan Medlock, 28, of Harrow, faces six charges, including preparing an act of terrorism. He has not yet pleaded guilty.
The list of firms protesting the defamation of lawyers represents an extraordinary number of prominent jurists united in a common purpose. The former justices include Lords Collins, Dyson and Walker, who recently left the Supreme Court, as well as Appellate Court Justices Sir Richard Buxton, Sir Anthony Hooper, Sir David Keene, Sir Alan Moses and Sir Stephen Sedley.
The letter says: “We are all deeply concerned by the recent attacks, made by the Home Secretary and repeated by the Prime Minister, against lawyers seeking to make the government comply with the law.
“Such attacks endanger not only the personal safety of lawyers and others who work for the judicial system, as has been clearly seen recently; they undermine the rule of law, which both ministers and lawyers have a duty to uphold.
“We invite both the Home Secretary and the Prime Minister to behave honorably by apologizing for their display of hostility and to refrain from such attacks in the future.”
In support of the letter, former Director of Public Prosecution Lord Macdonald QC said: “The Home Secretary may not understand the indecency of your language, but the Prime Minister should know better.
“Lawyers representing demonized people are always targeted by populist politicians, but it is degrading to our country and its institutions that the government itself is now plunging into this disreputable playbook.
“It is precisely this kind of ugly authoritarianism that the rule of law must counter. The entire legal profession is proud of those lawyers who are being so crudely and dangerously vilified. “
Former Supreme Court Justice Lord Dyson told The Guardian: “What is concerning is the inflammatory language used by the Home Secretary and supported by the Prime Minister. It was irresponsible and dangerous and absolutely unjustified to use such inflammatory language. The language is almost the language of a demagogue.
“We all now know what happens when people in high places and in power resort to such language… They are provoking emotions without justification. It is dangerous.”
Dinah Rose QC, President of Magdalen College, Oxford University, said: “The people at the heart of government whose role is to ensure that the legal system and the rule of law are respected have chosen to remain silent or their voices are not being heard. .
“When lawyers abuse the system, they deserve to be criticized, but the problem is that the government’s attack is against any lawyer who is using the system to represent their clients. There is an attempt to stoke hatred against lawyers by simply doing their job. “
In a ruling last week defending migrants’ right to have access to lawyers, Chief Justice Lord Burnett of Maldon also stated: “It is regrettable that a minority of lawyers have lent their support and professional weight to the vexatious representations and late abuses [immigration] legal challenges “.
A government spokesman said: “The government rejects the insinuation underlying this letter and it is clear that any form of violence is unacceptable. Lawyers play an important role in upholding the law and ensuring that people have access to justice. However, they are not immune from criticism. “
