Andy Slaughter on Palestine and on being Solicitor General

Andy Slaughter MP for Hammersmith & Chiswick in his new role as Solicitor General

Poacher turned gamekeeper

Andy Slaughter has been finding out what his new job involves. Appointed Solicitor General in July, ‘it is quite a change from chairing the Justice Select Committee’, he writes in his September newsletter, ‘not least because I have moved from scrutinising ministers to being one’.

The Solicitor General is one of the government’s Law Officers, alongside the Attorney General.

‘It is a slightly unusual ministerial job’, he writes. ‘The Law Officers are part of the Government but are also its senior legal advisers, with a responsibility to uphold the rule of law and some functions which have to be exercised independently and in the public interest.

‘The Solicitor General supports and deputises for the Attorney General and can exercise the Attorney’s legal functions.

‘Between us we also oversee the Government Legal Department, which provides legal advice across Whitehall, and superintend the Crown Prosecution Service and Serious Fraud Office.

‘That does not mean telling prosecutors who to prosecute – both make their individual prosecution decisions independently.

‘Other Law Officer responsibilities range from advising on difficult legal questions facing the government to considering whether sentences which appear unduly lenient should be referred to the Court of Appeal’.

He has already had an interesting introduction to the job. He went to Belfast with the Attorney General for the opening of the legal year, where he was sworn in to the Bar of Northern Ireland and met counterparts there to discuss how to strengthen our justice system.

He has visited the Serious Fraud Office, meeting its Director and staff and hearing about some of its current investigations and priorities.

‘Tackling serious fraud and economic crime will be an important part of my work.

‘There is plenty else to get on with. Our courts and criminal justice system are under enormous pressure and the government has some difficult decisions to make about how we improve them.

‘Having spent the past two years examining many of these problems as Chair of the Justice Committee, I am looking forward to approaching them from a rather different direction’.

Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband speaking at the Labour Party conference

Government changes its stance on Palestine

Andy Slaughter is also having to get used to being a little more circumspect about his views on policy. While backbenchers are free to say what they think, within reason, ministers are expected to tow the government line.

Fortunately for him, the Government has moved closer to his views on Palestine.

Ed Miliband told the Labour Party conference this week:

“I want to say to the millions of people in this country, and indeed elsewhere who have been moved and outraged by the plight of the Palestinian people, we hear you. You were right. And under Andy’s leadership, we have reset our approach.

“We call out ethnic cleansing by the settler terrorists in the West Bank.

“We call out the evidence of war crimes In Gaza.

“We call out Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine.

“And we match words with actions.

“We will ban the import of goods from illegal settlements. We will disrupt the supply lines of British finance, British construction and British services for illegal settlements.

“And when it comes to the attempt to destroy the two-state solution, this party, this movement, this government, says we will not let you succeed.

“And friends, our argument is not with the people of Israel, but with the actions of its government”.

In his September newsletter Andy writes:

‘Regular readers will know that Palestine is an issue I have worked on for many years. I have visited Gaza several times and have long supported recognition of a Palestinian state and a two-state solution.

‘I therefore welcome what is a long overdue reset in the UK’s approach, led by the new Foreign Secretary, Ed Miliband. The UK has now recognised Palestine and the government has gone further in its response to settlement expansion in the West Bank.

‘It will legislate to ban imports from illegal Israeli settlements and their promotion in the UK, sanction those supporting or profiting from illegal settlement activity and refuse export licences for arms and other goods which materially contribute to the occupation.

‘Further sanctions have also been imposed on extremist settlers responsible for or inciting violence against Palestinian communities.

‘These are significant steps, particularly at a time when the proposed E1 settlement threatens to make a viable Palestinian state still harder to achieve.

‘There is of course a very long way to go to secure a lasting peace and security for both Palestinians and Israelis, but I am pleased to see the government matching its support for a two-state solution with practical action’.

Lord Alf Dubs at the Chiswick Book Festival being interviewed by Janet Ellis

While the job of Solicitor General must take up a considerable amount of time, he is still our constituency MP, with a huge volume of casework, and he still finds time to be out and about in Hammersmith and Chiswick. Spotted recently at Chiswick Book Festival:

‘A highlight for me was hearing Hammersmith resident Lord Alf Dubs talk about his autobiography and his remarkable life, beginning with his escape from the Nazis on the Kindertransport’.

He went to the Grove Park Group’s summer party and learned how to do CPR with the London Ambulance Service.

He was at the Askew Arts Festival and the Chiswick Horticultural Society’s Autumn Show and was a judge at the Chiswick House Dog Show.

Andy Slaughter as a judge at the Chiswick House Dog Show