Keir Starmer must sack friend and UK's top lawyer over ECHR Nazi 'slur', Kemi Badenoch say

A close ally of Keir Starmer was forced to apologise after comparing calls to quit the European Convention on Human Rights to 1930s Nazi Germany.

Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said Lord Hermer should be sacked after saying demands to quit international agreements in order to control Britain's borders echoed similar demands by some in Nazi Germany.

Hermer, an ally of the Prime Minister, issued an apology on Friday amid widespread outrage.

Labour Cabinet colleagues are also said to be furious about the comments.

But Mrs Badenoch said: "From refusing to fight the case against Kneecap, to advising the Government to hand over £30 billion and our territory in the Chagos Islands, Lord Hermer has shown appalling judgement time and again. Now he's calling people who disagree with him Nazis.

"This isn't just embarrassing, it's dangerous. Hermer doesn't understand government. He believes in the rule of lawyers, not the rule of law.

"If Keir Starmer had any backbone, he'd sack him. But will he risk upsetting his old friend and former donor? I doubt it."

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said: "An apology is something, but the damage to our country continues. Hermer sums up this failing Government."

Tory Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick added: "Lord Hermer's appalling smear shows the complete disdain with which Labour views people who care about border security.

"He is a liability that you can't trust to defend Britain's interests. Starmer hasn't sacked him because he shares his anti-British, hard-left worldview."

Hermer said Britain "must be ready to reform" international agreements, such as the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), so they retain "democratic legitimacy".

But he then added: "This is not a new song. 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.

"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."

On Friday, a spokesman for Lord Hermer 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."