Sir Keir Starmer has been urged to sack Lord Hemer after it was revealed his under-fire Attorney General personally signed off the prosection of Lucy Connolly.
Connolly was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison after pleading guilty to stirring up racial hatred following a social media post in the wake of the Southport killings last year.
In a since-deleted tweet, Connolly called for mass deportations and said she would not care if rioters set fire to migrant hotels.
Despite her social media post being widely condemned, the Northamptonshire childminder's lengthy sentence resulted in senior politicians demanding her release.
Lord HermerPAHowever, in another twist, the Attorney General's office confirmed the 42-year-old prosecution was approved by Lord Hermer.
The Attorney General, who had the power to prevent the prosecution, was not involved in Connolly's sentencing.
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch renewed calls for the Prime Minister to sack his pal-turned-legal-chief.
She told The Telegraph: “His judgment is a national embarrassment. After Southport, facts were buried while ministers ranted about far-right thugs.
“Starmer should sack Hermer, or admit he’s not really in charge. It speaks volumes that our Attorney General is content to keep people like Lucy Connolly behind bars for a tweet as violent criminals are released early.”
Lucy Connolly was jailed for 31 months PA Reform UK leader Nigel Farage added: “Lord Hermer sums up Starmer’s Government.
"A group of detached two-tier human right lawyers. No wonder the public have given up on them all.”
Ex-Attorney General Suella Braverman also said: “Lucy Connolly should never have been prosecuted, and should now be freed from prison.
"The charges brought against her were not in the public interest, and if I was attorney general I would not have granted consent to prosecute.
“The CPS has a woeful track record of prosecuting rapists and domestic abusers, yet the Attorney General considered Lucy’s Twitter post sufficiently serious to justify prosecution.
Sir Keir Starmer
Getty"The Government is recklessly letting out dangerous criminals early, yet this Attorney General thought the costs and resources required to prosecute Lucy for her message were proportionate.
“This Attorney General is enforcing two-tier Britain under two-tier Keir. No wonder the UK has become a global byword for free speech in crisis, our reputation tarnished by political prosecutions and lawfare.”
However, the calls for Starmer to sack his Attorney General come just days after Lord Hermer sparked fury for comparing critics of the European Convention on Human Rights to Nazis.
Speaking at the Royal Institute for International Affairs defence think tank, Hermer said: “The claim that international law is fine as far as it goes, but can be put aside when the 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.
Lucy Connolly had her application to appeal rejectedX“Because of the experience of what followed 1933, far-sighted individuals rebuilt and transformed the institutions of international law, as well as internal constitutional law.”
After Starmer also received calls to sack his legal adviser over the remarks, Lord Hermer released a grovelling apology expressing his regrets over the "clumsy" smear.
A spokesman for the Attorney General said: “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.
“He rejects the characterisation of his speech by the Conservatives. He acknowledges though that his choice of words was clumsy and regrets having used this reference.”
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