Question to the Attorney General:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to publish (1) any interests that the Attorney-General has declared to his Permanent Secretary and the Independent Adviser on Ministerial Interests in relation to his work for Gerry Adams when a barrister at Matrix Chambers, and (2) whether the Attorney-General continues to receive payments from his time as a barrister at Matrix Chambers.

As has previously been set out to the house both in January 2025 and in June 2025, there is an established rigorous system in place within the Attorney General’s Office to ensure that a Law Officer would not be consulted on any matter that could give rise to a potential conflict of interest.

If a Law Officer were to publicly confirm specific matters where they were recused, this would infer that legal advice had been requested by the Government on a specific matter, which would risk a breach of the Law Officers’ Convention.

This process also sits alongside the established system in place for declaration Ministerial Interests. I confirm that my relevant interests have been published for the public record, including my previous employment at Matrix Chambers.