The left wing press is bigging up another of those round robin letters this morning.
- BBC: Migrant crisis: UK response criticised by senior former judges
- The Guardian: Conservatives’ asylum policy on Syria criticised as ‘too low, too slow, too narrow’
- The Huffinton Post: Migration Crisis: 300 Lawyers Pen Letter To David Cameron Blasting Syrian Refugee Response
- Daily Mirror: More than 300 lawyers warn Tories’ ‘inadequate’ response to Syrian refugees is costing lives
Somehow the BBC seems to be unembarrassed and unapologetic about running in this company.
If you do go to the original material and look at the list of signatories it all becomes clear. All the usual lefty suspects such as Geoffrey Bindman, Helena Kennedy and Michael Mansfield are there. Indeed 9 officers of the Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers are there.
If you are in any doubt about what is going on here then the signatures of 52 lawyers from Doughty Chambers should convince you. They say:
Doughty Street Chambers is probably the largest and most wide-ranging civil liberties legal practice in the world.
There are 43 signatures from Matrix Chambers with their “progressive outlook”. The Blackstone Chambers provides 32 signatories.
Even a cursory look at the list tells you that this letter is about the human rights barrister industry touting for business.
Phil Taylor 