Lucy Rigby MP: speeches 2025

Speeches

• 23 Jan 2025 · Attorney General’s Office: Conflicts of Interest · Hansard source

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  I have been abundantly clear on this: where the Attorney General has conflicts, he will recuse himself. The Law Officers’ convention does not permit me to say in relation to which matters he has recused himself, because in doing so I would reveal the matters that the Law Officers have been asked to advise on, or indeed have advised on.

• 23 Jan 2025 · Attorney General’s Office: Conflicts of Interest · Hansard source

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  I very much agree with my hon. Friend. I am happy to confirm that where the Attorney General has conflicts, he will recuse himself.

• 23 Jan 2025 · Attorney General’s Office: Conflicts of Interest · Hansard source

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  I have already addressed that point.

• 23 Jan 2025 · Attorney General’s Office: Conflicts of Interest · Hansard source

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  As I have already stated, the Law Officers’ convention does not permit me to reveal when the Attorney General has been asked for advice or when he has advised.

• 23 Jan 2025 · Attorney General’s Office: Conflicts of Interest · Hansard source

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

• 23 Jan 2025 · Attorney General’s Office: Conflicts of Interest · Hansard source

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  I agree with my hon. Friend, and I am grateful to him for making that point. As I said earlier, barristers are quite simply not their clients, and I have quoted the words of the current Conservative shadow Attorney General.

• 23 Jan 2025 · Attorney General’s Office: Conflicts of Interest · Hansard source

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  The hon. Member will know that the Law Officers’ convention means that I cannot confirm that the Attorney General has advised or whether his advice has been sought on any matter.

• 23 Jan 2025 · Attorney General’s Office: Conflicts of Interest · Hansard source

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  I do not agree, I am afraid.

• 23 Jan 2025 · Attorney General’s Office: Conflicts of Interest · Hansard source

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  I agree wholeheartedly with my hon. Friend.

• 23 Jan 2025 · Attorney General’s Office: Conflicts of Interest · Hansard source

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  I am grateful to my hon. Friend for her question, and I agree with her.

• 23 Jan 2025 · Attorney General’s Office: Conflicts of Interest · Hansard source

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  Thank you, Mr Speaker. The shadow Solicitor General raised the previous experience of the Attorney General. Lord Hermer is a very experienced barrister, and during his time in private practice—prior to his appointment to Government—he represented high-profile clients in a number of cases. It is a central and well-understood aspect of the British legal system, as she knows, that barristers are required to accept instructions if they are available and qualified to do so—the well-known “cab rank” principle. She will also be very aware that, put simply, barristers are not their clients. As the Bar Council states: “Barristers do not choose their clients, nor do they associate themselves with their clients’ opinions or behaviour by virtue of representing them.” In recent days, the Opposition have cynically linked the Attorney General with some of his previous clients. I grew up on military bases in armed forces communities in the 1980s, and I remember what it felt like when my dad had to check underneath the car before every single journey we made. I note that because it is the backdrop against which I say that I would defend with every fibre of my being the duty of any barrister in this country, including Lord Hermer, to defend any client before any court, as we all should. I will end by restating the principle in words that I think are particularly powerful: “Don’t judge a surgeon by their patients, a journalist by their interviewees—or a lawyer by their clients.” Those were the words of the current Conservative shadow Attorney General.