Lord Hermer accused of 'witch hunt' against British troops despite warnings

The Telegraph obtained more than 25,000 pages of emails and legal documents revealing one of Sir Keir Starmer's closest Cabinet ally served as lead counsel in civil claims against the Ministry of Defence, pressing for substantial payouts for eight Iraqi clients.

Lord Hermer, who was working on a no-win, no-fee basis and stood to gain significantly if the claims succeeded, later maintained it was irrelevant whether his clients were "a saint or a member of al-Qaeda" when bringing human rights cases against British troops.

The compensation case stemmed from allegations from a group claims case that claimed British forces had tortured and executed civilians following the Battle of Danny Boy in southern Iraq in 2004.

Lord Hermer's clients presented themselves as innocent farmers and labourers caught up in the conflict. However, after years of investigation, the £31million Al-Sweady public inquiry concluded their accusations were "deliberate lies" motivated by "ingrained hostility" towards the British Army.

The claimants were subsequently revealed to be members of the Mahdi Army, an Islamist insurgent group with backing from Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

British troops were completely exonerated in 2014 and the scandal triggered disciplinary proceedings against several human rights lawyers. Phil Shiner, the disgraced solicitor who worked alongside Lord Hermer, was struck off the legal register and later convicted of fraud.

Lance Corporal Brian Wood, a Military Cross recipient who was falsely accused of war crimes by Lord Hermer's clients, has demanded the Attorney General step down from his position.

"I have gone through hell for years. It's disgusting that Hermer is Attorney General. He pursued us in a witch hunt and yet is now the senior lawyer in Government. That is just wrong – he was representing the people trying to kill us," Mr Wood said.

Hilary Meredith, who acted for soldiers wrongly accused over the Danny Boy incident, called for the Bar Standards Board to investigate Lord Hermer's conduct. She described it as "the worst case ever of soldiers, who had fought so bravely in that battle, being dragged through the mud for years".

General Sir Peter Wall, the former Army chief who commanded UK forces in Basra, stated the orchestrated claims against British troops at Danny Boy were "tantamount to treason".

Internal emails suggest Lord Hermer advised solicitors on media strategy while acknowledging uncertainty about the underlying claims.

He appears to have suggested they needed "wriggle room if the killings did not in fact happen" and asked whether press materials should be "slightly more explicit" about execution allegations "in order to generate sufficient interest".

The context of the exchange is unclear.

Martyn Day wrote to Shiner asking whether they should "up the ante", with the latter responding "Richard is right, so let's up the ante".

By March 2013, Mr Day, who was cleared of any wrongdoing in 2017, reportedly informed Lord Hermer it was "odds-on likely" the claims would be exposed as "nonsense" and allegedly described the Iraqi clients in private as "lying Bs".

Despite this, Lord Hermer allegedly continued advocating for settlement offers of £45,000 to £55,000 per claimant, advising this would be "low risk".

A spokesman for Lord Hermer rejected the claims, saying Lord Hermer “did a small amount of work at the start of this case, where he made clear that serious allegations at the time needed further investigation".

They added: "He always acted with the highest professional standards and the suggestion he acted for individuals with the knowledge that their claims were false is categorically untrue.

"The Attorney argued it would be unfair on armed services personnel if they didn’t have the opportunity to show their innocence through a proper investigation."

On the civil claims, his spokesman said “the Attorney General had minimal involvement in the Al-Sweady claims, limited to a small number of hours between 2008 and 2013”.

In regards to Phil Shiner, the spokesman said: “As soon as the SRA case was brought forward, the Attorney General was clear in his condemnation for the reprehensible behaviour of Mr Shiner, that rightly led to him being disqualified and successfully prosecuted.”

Lord Hermer was elevated to the House of Lords by Sir Keir specifically to serve as Attorney General, chosen over Dame Emily Thornberry, who had held the shadow position.

Since taking office, he has been instrumental in negotiations to transfer the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, a decision that has sparked diplomatic tensions with Donald Trump.

An ally of Lord Hermer said: "The Telegraph has deliberately misrepresented different legal claims and key facts in an attempt to improve their story, and were warned of this pre-publication.”

“Their investigation simply shows the Attorney’s minimal involvement in the Al-Sweady claims, limited to a small number of hours between 2008 and 2013, and that there is no suggestion of any wrongdoing on his part.

"This has been conflated with his work on a set of group claims involving a wider range of victims, that was ultimately settled by the Ministry of Defence. The Attorney was not involved in the Al-Sweady inquiry.”

“Over a 30-year career, the Attorney has represented many clients prior to his time in government. These also include representation of a British soldier killed by IRA terrorists, other British military personnel such as injured servicemen in the Iraq War and Porton Down Veterans."

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