Hermer hailed Starmer’s ‘groundbreaking’ work suing soldiers

Sir Keir Starmer was a pioneer of “groundbreaking” legal claims that paved the way for the witch hunt against British troops in Iraq, according to his Attorney General’s own testimony.

In a detailed 40-page witness statement, Lord Hermer set out the Prime Minister’s role in establishing case law that effectively opened the floodgates to hundreds of claims brought by Iraqis against the Ministry of Defence.

In his evidence, Lord Hermer said that Sir Keir had worked on two key legal claims which established that human rights laws in the UK should also apply in Iraq, where British troops were deployed.

The cases gave Iraqis a green light to sue the British government for false imprisonment and mistreatment. Critics have accused the Prime Minister of bringing watershed cases that effectively led to a witch hunt against British troops, including thousands of false claims brought by the disgraced solicitor Phil Shiner.

In one of the cases, Sir Keir was instructed by Shiner, who was subsequently struck off for dishonesty and convicted of fraud.

‘Deliberate lies’ exposed

This week, The Telegraph disclosed that Lord Hermer, now the Attorney General, was lead counsel for Iraqi insurgents who falsely claimed that British troops had executed Iraqis captured after the Battle of Danny Boy in 2004. The claims for hundreds of thousands of pounds in damages from the British government were dropped after the “deliberate lies” of Lord Hermer’s clients were exposed at the Al-Sweady public inquiry 10 years later.

Sir Keir’s role in paving the way for legal actions against Britain is laid out in a statement given by Lord Hermer in defence of another human rights solicitor who was also facing a solicitors’ disciplinary tribunal hearing at the time. Martyn Day, a renowned human rights lawyer who founded the law firm Leigh Day, was cleared of wrongdoing.

In his witness statement, given in 2016, Lord Hermer said:

In one case, Lord Hermer explained how he and Sir Keir were instructed “to intervene […] by a variety of domestic and international NGOs” on a claim brought by “six test claimants in respect of injuries sustained in a variety of circumstances in southern Iraq at the hands of UK troops”.

According to Lord Hermer’s evidence, the case, which eventually went to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, established a landmark ruling that the European Convention on Human Rights “was capable in certain circumstances of extending to southern Iraq”.

In a second groundbreaking case, outlined by Lord Hermer, Sir Keir worked alongside Shiner on behalf of Hilal Al-Jedda, a British-Iraqi man “who was interned in Iraq by UK forces without charge or trial for in excess of three years”.

After a lengthy legal battle that also ended up in Strasbourg, the detainee “was awarded compensation for his unlawful detention”.

Lord Hermer wrote in his statement: “I appeared together with Keir Starmer QC for Mr Al Jedda instructed by Public Interest Lawyers.” Public Interest Lawyers is the firm founded by Shiner.

Lord Hermer said Sir Keir stopped acting in the claims only after being appointed director of public prosecutions. At that point, Lord Hermer took over as leading counsel, instructed by Shiner in the Al-Jedda case.

By the time the cases reached Europe, Sir Keir was no longer involved.

In his statement, Lord Hermer said:

Sir Keir’s involvement in the Iraq war legal claims was exposed by The Telegraph in January, prompting Johnny Mercer, the former veterans’ minister and a former Army captain, to accuse Sir Keir of “unleashing the witch hunt against British troops”.

Sgt Richie Catterall, a soldier who found himself wrongly pursued for 13 years over the shooting of an Iraqi in self-defence, said: “I wasn’t well when I got back from Iraq, but they kept coming for me. Keir Starmer must share some of that responsibility.”

‘Tantamount to treason’

Sir Keir and Lord Hermer are close friends and colleagues from their days working in private practice. Lord Hermer was given a peerage in 2024, allowing him to take up the post of Attorney General in the Labour Government. He is the Prime Minister’s closest ally in Cabinet.

The revelations in The Telegraph have led to demands for his resignation and a request – made by the Tories – for the Bar Standards Board to investigate him over his role in the Danny Boy scandal.

Gen Sir Peter Wall, the former head of the Army who oversaw UK forces in Basra, said: “The orchestrated claims against British troops involved in the Battle of Danny Boy were tantamount to treason.”

The Telegraph investigation, analysing 25,000 pages of legal documents, disclosed Lord Hermer’s role as lead counsel in the civil claims brought by the Iraqis making false claims against British troops. His work on the case helped to force through the Al-Sweady public inquiry – at a cost to the taxpayer of £31m – which established that Lord Hermer’s Iraqi clients had told “deliberate lies” driven by “ingrained hostility” towards the Army.

The Attorney General has denied claims that he ignored a series of warnings that his clients were liars in order to carry on pursuing the legal actions. In defence of the claims, Lord Hermer said that it made no difference whether his clients were “a saint or a member of al-Qaeda” while suing British troops under human rights laws.

‘Highest professional standards’

In a statement, Lord Hermer’s spokesman said: “The Attorney simply states in his witness statement that the Prime Minister was interested in international humanitarian law at the time. This is a matter of public record.”

With regards to allegations that Lord Hermer pursued claims against British troops at a time when there were credibility issues with his clients, his spokesman said: “The Telegraph has confused individual and group claims. The Attorney had minimal involvement in the Al-Sweady claims, limited to a small number of hours between 2008 and 2013, as is already public knowledge.

“During that period, he worked on a set of group claims involving Iraqi civilians, and acted entirely in accordance with his professional obligations at all times.”

His spokesman added: “Over a 30-year legal career, the Attorney General represented many clients – including British military personnel, such as a British soldier killed by IRA terrorists, and injured servicemen in the Iraq war. The Attorney always acted with the highest professional standards, and the suggestion Attorney acted for individuals with the knowledge that their claims were false is categorically untrue.”

A government spokesman said: “The Prime Minister will never forget the courage, bravery and sacrifice made by British servicemen and women for their country. During his career, the Prime Minister has represented British soldiers who were killed in action and were wrongly accused.

“As our country’s chief prosecutor, the Prime Minister protected Britain’s national security by locking up 150 terrorists, including the first conviction of an al-Qaeda ringleader and the ‘liquid bomb plotters’ who tried to carry out a British 9/11.”

[Source: Daily Telegraph]