Starmer: Use the ECHR to Investigate British Troops

Sir Keir Starmer called for the European Convention on Human Rights to be used to investigate British troops in Iraq in a book edited by Phil Shiner, the disgraced lawyer convicted of fraud over false claims of abuse. The Telegraph has the story.

In the book, the Prime Minister accused Gordon Brown’s government of a “deliberate effort” to alter international law. He claimed it had given British troops an effective immunity when operating in Iraq.

Sir Keir’s chapter was published in a 2008 book, entitled The Iraq War and International Law, put together by Shiner, who was subsequently convicted of fraud and struck off as a solicitor over false claims of abuse made against British soldiers.

The Telegraph has also uncovered a photograph of Sir Keir and Shiner speaking at an event in 2014 to mark a European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) judgment.

On Wednesday, Gen Sir Peter Wall, the former Chief of the General Staff, who commanded British forces in Iraq, told the Telegraph’s Planet Normal podcast that it was “shocking” that Sir Keir had linked himself to Shiner, whom he described as “the bane of our lives”.

Sir Peter questioned Sir Keir’s suitability to be Prime Minister, including his power over the military, owing to his involvement in a legal case disclosed by the Telegraph, that led to hundreds of troops being investigated over false claims of war crimes.

Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative leader, on Wednesday called for Sir Keir to apologise for his role in the case, accusing both the Prime Minister and Lord Hermer, the Attorney General, of helping people who “act against our country’s national interest”.

The Telegraph investigation uncovered legal documents that showed Sir Keir worked voluntarily for human rights groups on a legal case which ruled that British law applied in war-torn Iraq.

Sir Keir’s spokesman insisted on Thursday that the Prime Minister had assisted the court “on points of law, not to advocate for either side”.

But in the hearing, held before the Law Lords in 2007, Sir Keir, who was representing a series of human rights organisations, argued that investigations into the deaths of Iraqi civilians had been “perfunctory” and “wholly inadequate”.

In his academic article published in Shiner’s book, Sir Keir wrote that ECHR laws were “far more effective” than United Nations international laws, which he argued had been interpreted and developed by the US and the UK to suit them.

“One cannot read key speeches by US and UK politicians and lawyers without surmising that such a development has involved a deliberate effort by the USA and the UK to change international law for their own ends,” he wrote.

Worth reading in full.