Attorney General’s Office: Conflicts of Interest

Lord Falconer of Thoroton Excerpts

Monday 27th January 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Hermer (Lab)]

The noble and learned Lord served with great distinction as a law officer and will know that the question as to what I may or may not have advised the Prime Minister is itself covered by the law officers’ convention.

[Lord Falconer of Thoroton (Lab)]

My Lords, nobody doubts the integrity of my noble and learned friend the Attorney-General, nor that he has complied with the conflicts principles, as has been attested to by the Cabinet Secretary. Can my noble and learned friend say what effect seeking to undermine the convention by scraping the bottom of the barrel in this way has on the good functioning of government and of his office?

[Lord Hermer (Lab)]

I have two answers to that. In terms of the current law officers, it has none, because we will not be distracted in the work that we seek to perform with this Government to enable them, through law, to deliver on their objectives. My concern is not for myself nor my colleagues; it is that, where people seek to scrape the bottom of the legal barrel in order to drive short-term political point-scoring, it undermines this country’s important institutions in the eyes of the public.