Johnson Urged to Apologise for Attacks on Lawyers

A letter signed by 800 former members of the legal profession adds to the pressure on Johnson to apologise for attacks on the legal profession.


FILE PHOTO: Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson speaks as he meets with his Iraq's counterpart Mustafa Al-Kadhimi (not pictured) at Downing Street, in London, Britain October 22, 2020. REUTERS/Henry Nicholls/Pool
FILE PHOTO: Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson speaks as he meets with his Iraq's counterpart Mustafa Al-Kadhimi (not pictured) at Downing Street, in London, Britain October 22, 2020. REUTERS/Henry Nicholls/Pool
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LONDON (Within The Law) - Boris Johnson and Priti Patel have faced renewed calls to apologise for attacks against lawyers. The renewed calls come in a letter signed by 800 former judges and legal professionals who have accused the Prime Minister and Home Secretary of stoking hostility towards lawyers representing asylum seekers.  

The letter, which was sent to the Guardian newspaper claims attacked were endangering lawyers' safety and undermined the rule of law. The signatories who included three former supreme court judges, called for the pair to ‘behave honourably’ and apologise. 

Back in August the Home Office ran an animated clip accusing lawyers who represented migrants as being ‘activists’. The Law society branded the video misleading and dangerous at the time but the attacks continued. The Home Office eventually stopped running the clip but the attacks continued.  

Johnson and Patel both used their Conference speeches to attack the legal profession. Ms. Patel referred to "do-gooders" and "lefty lawyers". She had also considered sending asylum seekers to an island in the Atlantic and promised the biggest overhaul of the system in decades and accused anyone who opposed her plans of ‘defending the indefensible’. 

Johnson, meanwhile, used his speech to promise to stop lefty human rights lawyers hamstringing the justice system. Lawyers have reported threats and abuse sent to their office since their comments. 

In September, a man armed with a knife attacked an exclusive law firm in London injuring one member of staff. The firm wrote to the Law Society asking it to raise the issue with Priti Patel. In documents describing the attack it said: 

“Responsibility and accountability for this attack, in the eyes of this firm, lies squarely at the feet of Priti Patel.” 

This new letter is the latest attempt from the industry to force the government to dial down its rhetoric. It includes signatures from three former justices of the UK Supreme Court, Lords Collins, Dyson and Walker stated their concern at the attacks from the Prime Minister and the Home Secretary. 

“Such attacks endanger not only the personal safety of lawyers and others working for the justice system, as has recently been vividly seen; they undermine the rule of law, which ministers and lawyers alike are duty-bound to uphold.

“We invite both the home secretary and the Prime minister to behave honourably by apologising for their display of hostility, and to refrain from such attacks in the future.”

Number 10 has refused to back down. In a statement, it said that while it condemned any violence lawyers were ‘not immune from criticism’. 

(Written by Tom Cropper, Edited by Klaudia Fior)

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