'Out of touch': Attorney General slammed for comparing ECHR doubters to Nazis

30 May 2025, 18:33

By EJ Ward

The Attorney General is facing mounting pressure to resign after comparing calls for the UK to withdraw from international courts to rhetoric used in 1930s Nazi Germany—remarks branded “disgusting” and “offensive” by senior political figures.

Writing exclusively for LBC, Reform UK MP Sarah Pochin and Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp led the criticism, accusing Lord Richard Hermer of insulting millions of voters and being unfit for high office.

Pochin said Hermer had “appalling judgement” and had “compared a mainstream opinion to one of the most evil regimes in human history”. Philp called on Sir Keir Starmer to sack him, claiming the peer had “lost all touch with reality”.

The backlash follows a speech Hermer delivered to the Royal United Services Institute on Thursday, in which he warned that abandoning the constraints of international law would “give succour to Putin” and likened such moves to those taken by “realist jurists” in pre-war Germany.

Read more: Kemi Badenoch calls on Prime Minister to sack Lord Hermer after he compared calls to leave ECHR with 1930s Germany

LBC Opinion: If Keir Starmer had any backbone, he would sack Lord Hermer, writes Chris Philp

Hermer's remarks have since been clarified in a statement from his spokesman, who said he “regrets his clumsy choice of words” but stood by his broader argument in defence of international law.

Philp cited a recent case where a convicted Pakistani drug dealer avoided deportation under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), saying: “This is exactly why the public are losing faith in the system. Hermer’s response is to label critics as Nazis—he should go.”

Pochin accused Labour of desperation, claiming Hermer’s speech showed the government “bending over backwards to international courts instead of protecting Britain’s borders”. She added: “It’s clear that unless we leave the ECHR, we will never stop the boats.”

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch also weighed in, accusing Hermer of “starting from a position of self-loathing” and undermining British sovereignty. “Unless the Prime Minister demands a retraction, we can only assume these slurs reflect Keir Starmer’s own view,” she said.

Hermer’s critics have pointed to his legal record, including defending IRA-linked figures and challenging deportations of ISIS recruits, as evidence he is out of step with public sentiment. The Prime Minister has not yet commented on the growing calls for Hermer’s removal