Lord Hermer
Attorney General · 2024–
In one sentence
Wrote a legal lock: Britain will never leave the ECHR or defy Strasbourg.
Richard Hermer KC, Matrix Chambers human-rights silk, was made Attorney General in July 2024. In January 2025 he told the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe that the new UK government will 'never withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights, or refuse to comply with judgments of the court or requests for interim measures.' That is a public surrender of the one tool — leaving, or ignoring Rule 39 — that every serious enforcement plan eventually collides with. Senior Labour sources told The Times his line was freezing border reform. Starmer backed him. Hermer's previous caseload included claimant work in the Al-Sweady Iraq litigation.
The new United Kingdom government will never withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights, or refuse to comply with judgments of the court or requests for interim measures given in respect of the United Kingdom.
What they did
Jul 2024
Appointed AG
A human-rights claimant silk as the government's chief lawyer — the brief that decides what a Home Secretary is 'allowed' to try.
Jan 2025
The Strasbourg vow
Ruled out withdrawal, non-compliance, and resistance to Rule 39 interim measures — the exact device that grounded the first Rwanda flight in 2022.
Sources: The Times, 31 Jan 2025; Council of Europe PACE remarks