The attorney general has apologised for a “clumsy” remark that compared Conservative and Reform calls to disregard international treaties and quit the European convention of human rights (ECHR) with the early days of Nazi Germany.
In a speech on Thursday, Richard Hermer defended the government’s commitment to abide by international law and likened those who wanted to ignore it to German jurists in the 1930s, such as Carl Schmitt.
His words were criticised by Kemi Badenoch and Nigel Farage.
The Conservative leader accused Lord Hermer of “starting from a position of self-loathing, where Britain is always wrong and everyone else is right” and demanded an apology.
“Our sovereignty is being eroded by out-of-date treaties and courts acting outside their jurisdiction,” Badenoch posted on X. “Pointing this out does not make anyone a Nazi. Labour have embarrassed themselves again with this comparison.”
On Friday, a spokesperson for the attorney general said he acknowledged that “his choice of words was clumsy and regrets having used this reference” but added that he “rejects the characterisation of his speech by the Conservatives”.
“The attorney general gave a speech defending international law, which underpins our security, protects against threats from aggressive states like Russia and helps tackle organised immigration crime,” the spokesperson said.
Farage, the leader of Reform UK, has long campaigned for the UK to leave the ECHR. Badenoch said earlier this year that the UK may have to quit the convention and other international agreements if they stopped ministers from acting “in our national interest”.
Hermer said in his speech to the Royal United Services Institute: “The claim that international law is fine as far as it goes, but can be put aside when conditions change, is a claim that was made in the early 1930s by ‘realist’ jurists in Germany, most notably Carl Schmitt, whose central thesis was in essence the claim that state power is all that counts, not law.
“Because of the experience of what followed in 1933, far-sighted individuals rebuilt and transformed the institutions of international law, as well as internal constitutional law.” Adolf Hitler became chancellor of Germany in 1933.
Schmitt was highly influential under the Nazis and wrote about sovereignty and the effective exercise of power without the constraint of legal norms.
Hermer said the government’s approach was “a rejection of the siren song that can sadly now be heard in the Palace of Westminster, not to mention some sections of the media, that Britain abandon the constraints of international law in favour of raw power”.
“Let me be crystal clear: I do not question for a moment the good faith, let alone patriotism, of the pseudo-realists, but their arguments if ever adopted would provide succour to [Vladimir] Putin,” he said.
In his same speech, Hermer argued that “we must not stagnate in our approach to international rules” and “must be ready to reform where necessary”.
