Labour peer calls for ‘arrogant’ attorney general to be sacked

Blue Labour founder Maurice Glasman also calls Richard Hermer a ‘progressive fool’ in New Statesman interview. An influential Labour peer has branded the attorney general Richard Hermer an “arrogant, progressive fool” and called for him to be sacked, exposing a split at the heart of Keir Starmer’s government. Maurice Glasman, founder of the Blue Labour group that has risen in prominence since Donald Trump’s victory in the US election, urged the prime minister to replace his attorney general.

In an interview with the New Statesman, Glasman said of Hermer: “He’s got to go. He is the absolute archetype of an arrogant, progressive fool who thinks that law is a replacement for politics … They talk about the rule of law but what they want is a rule of lawyers.” He also branded Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, a “drone for the Treasury”. Hermer, a personal friend of Starmer’s who was given a seat in the House of Lords in order to become attorney general, has become a prime target of political attacks from both inside and outside the government. Some Labour figures have accused him of slowing down government plans by taking an overly legalistic approach.

The prime minister’s spokesperson expressed full confidence in Hermer on Monday afternoon and stressed he was the best person for the job. Glasman, who launched Blue Labour in 2009 as an antidote to New Labour, was the only party figure to attend Trump’s presidential inauguration last month. He was reportedly invited by Trump’s vice-president, JD Vance, with whom he has struck up a friendship.

Morgan McSweeney, Starmer’s chief of staff and the most powerful figure in his government, has taken an interest in Blue Labour, which champions small-c conservatism as a way of appealing to traditional working-class voters. Speaking to the New Statesman, Glasman expressed his frustration at the direction Starmer’s government was taking but said: “Morgan is one of ours, we love him.”. However, he took aim at others in the government, saying: “They’re still going ahead with the Chagos deal, they’re not grasping any form of industrialisation, particularly around Ukraine and defence, where we could go into a really serious position as the leading military power in Europe.”.

He criticised Reeves, saying the chancellor “seems to have forgotten entirely our last conversation about ‘securonomics’ and the ‘everyday economy’. Now she’s just a drone for the Treasury. There’s no vision of economic renewal and no idea about how to renew the faraway towns.”. A parliamentary Blue Labour caucus has been launched amid fears among Labour MPs about the rising popularity of Nigel Farage’s Reform UK, which is neck-and-neck with Labour and the Conservatives in opinion polls.