U3A Current affairs discussion group 17th February 2025

Kemi Badenoch 100 days, how are things going?

How do Britons feel about Kemi Badenoch after 100 days of her leadership?

https://yougov.co.uk/politics/articles/51550-how-do-britons-feel-about-kemi-badenoch-after-100-days-of-her-leadership

Kemi hates doing media’: Tory anxiety after 100 days of Badenoch leadership

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/feb/09/kemi-badenoch-100-days-leader-conservative-party-tory-mps

Boris Johnson

Boris Johnson was ‘one of most damaging PMs in history’, says Reform UK chair

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/feb/07/boris-johnson-was-one-of-most-damaging-pms-in-history-says-reform-uk-chair

Should government decisions be subject to legal challenge?

Extract from The Daily Telegraph 11 Feb 2025

‘Arrogant fool’ Hermer must step down, says senior peer

GENEVIEVE HOLL-ALLENJACK MAIDMENT

A LEADING Labour peer has said that the Attorney General is an “arrogant, progressive fool” and called for him to quit.

In signs of a deepening split in the party, Lord Glasman, who founded the Blue Labour group that focuses on socially conservative values, said Lord Hermer has “got to go” because he believes that “law is a replacement for politics”.

It comes after a series of conflict of interest rows that have engulfed the Attorney General since it was revealed that Gerry Adams, one of his former clients, could receive compensation for his detention during the Troubles.

Yesterday, The Telegraph revealed that he has previously advised Caribbean nations seeking reparations for slavery.

Lord Glasman told the New Statesman: “He’s got to go. He is the absolute archetype of an arrogant, progressive fool who thinks that law is a replacement for politics … They talk about the rule of law but what they want is a rule of lawyers.”

There have also been reports of Lord Hermer strengthening guidance to tell lawyers that they must advise ministers if they think policies could be unlawful, prompting accusations that he is delaying government work.

Downing Street has reiterated that Sir Keir Starmer has “full confidence” in the Attorney General, but refused to guarantee he would remain in post until the next election.

The spokesman responded: “I think we’ve gone around various Cabinet ministers are obviously not going to get into going through every member of the Cabinet, but Prime Minister’s got full confidence in him.”

The Prime Minister appointed Lord Hermer to the role, with the pair having been personal friends since Sir Keir’s days as a barrister.

Baroness Hoey, a crossbench peer and former Labour minister, said that Lord Hermer was a “real distraction” for the Government and joined calls for him to quit. A second former Labour minister said that Downing Street was “being undermined by an activist human rights lawyer who thinks his job is to tell ministers what they can’t do, not just give them legal advice when asked”.

The ex-minister added: “Morgan McSweeney and his team in Downing Street are tearing their hair out.”

Deeply unfair’: how attorney general became lightning rod for criticism of Starmer

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/feb/13/attorney-general-richard-hermer-lightning-rod-for-criticism-of-starmer

Officers cannot be sacked through vetting - court

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c8r5nrzn4z0o

Officers cannot be sacked through vetting - court

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c8r5nrzn4z0o

How I exposed MI5's lie about its violent abusive agent

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cx25m231n8xo

School worker sacked for LGBT+ posts wins appeal

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cn017ydwnr1o