Lord Hermer questioned the reliability of Iraqis who he helped to represent in a legal case but were later found to have made false claims about unlawful killing by British troops.
The attorney-general, then a senior lawyer, suggested to associates in 2007 that they should retain “wriggle room if the killings did not in fact happen”. The comments emerged in documents published by The Telegraph, from preparations for legal proceedings.
Hermer was involved in the case launched by about half a dozen Iraqis who accused British troops of having unlawfully killed their relatives.
Allies of the cabinet minister said he had spent only a few hours on the case, between 2008 and 2013. However, internal emails from the law firm with which Hermer was working appear to show him expressing caution about the claimants’ accusations.
One note, sent from Hermer to a fellow lawyer on February 17, 2008, discussed a press release being prepared about the case, which also involved Phil Shiner, the lawyer who was later struck off and convicted of fraud. It said: “I think the line to Phil works in getting the balance between making sure that the big story is out there whilst giving us some wriggle room if the killings did not in fact happen.
“Do you need to be slightly more explicit in the press release about ‘evidence raising serious concerns of executions of prisoners’ in order to generate sufficient interest or will the Today interview naturally bring in the punters later that...
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