Sources say Richard Hermer, the attorney general, has told Foreign Office officials he will not approve a decision to ban some weapons sales until they can say for sure which could be used to break international humanitarian law.
David Lammy has launched a review into whether the UK should continue selling weapons to Israel as the country continues its assault on Gaza. The foreign secretary has talked about banning the sale of “offensive” weapons but allowing arms manufacturers to keep supplying “defensive” ones, saying that such a move would enable Israel to defend itself.
Last week a group of human rights lawyers submitted a case to the high court accusing the government of acting irrationally by refusing to ban arms sales. As part of their claim they submitted more than 100 pages of witness testimony containing allegations that Palestinians had been tortured, left untreated in hospital and were unable to escape heavy bombardment.
That’s certainly an interpretation if you wish to assign malicious intent. Thing is, this attorney general is a non-political appointee. The reason to appoint him was his objectiveness.
Mr Smith who just quit certainly thinks there is no possible explanation than malicious intent. And that objectiveness has been disposed of by the Starmer administration.