Attorney General’s Office: Conflicts of Interest

Graeme Downie Excerpts

Thursday 23rd January 2025 Commons Chamber

[The Solicitor General]

I am afraid I could not be more clear: I have already said that where the Attorney General has conflicts, he will recuse himself.

[Graeme Downie (Dunfermline and Dollar) (Lab)]

As someone who grew up in Warrington and who was friends with Tim Parry who was murdered by the IRA, I subsequently had to do public affairs engagement work in Northern Ireland, so I am well aware of some of the difficulties that can come from the outcome, shall we say, of some of the violence suffered in Northern Ireland. Does the Solicitor General agree that

“A lawyer should not be identified personally with the cause for which they are arguing”?—[Official Report, House of Lords, 15 June 2022; Vol. 822, c. 1597.]

Those are not my words; they belong to the distinguished commercial barrister, the Conservative shadow Attorney General. Does the Solicitor General agree with me about those words?

[The Solicitor General]

I agree wholeheartedly with my hon. Friend.