Legal career of Keir Starmer

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Starmer as Director of Public Prosecutions, c. 2012

Following his graduation with a Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of Leeds in 1985 until being elected to the House of Commons in 2015, Keir Starmer practised law. He predominantly dealt with criminal defence work, specialising in human rights matters. In 2008, he became Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) and Head of the Crown Prosecution Service, holding these positions until 2013. He previously prosecuted numerous cases for the CPS during his career, specialising as a defence lawyer with expertise in human rights law.

Starmer graduated with a Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of Leeds in 1985 and gained a postgraduate Bachelor of Civil Law degree at St Edmund Hall at the University of Oxford in 1986. He became a barrister in 1987 at the Middle Temple, becoming a bencher there in 2009, primarily working on human rights issues. He was called to the bar in several Caribbean countries, where he has defended convicts sentenced to the death penalty. He assisted Helen Steel and David Morris in the McLibel case, in the trial and appeal in English courts, also representing them at the European court. Starmer served as a human rights adviser to the Northern Ireland Policing Board and the Association of Chief Police Officers, and was also a member of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office's death penalty advisory panel from 2002 to 2008. He later cited his work on policing in Northern Ireland as being a key influence on his decision to pursue a political career. During this time he also marched and authored legal opinions against the Iraq War. Becoming a member of Doughty Street Chambers in 1990, Starmer was appointed as Queen's Counsel (QC) in 2002.

Starmer became the new head of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and Director of Public Prosecutions in 2008, taking over from Ken Macdonald, He was considered to be bringing a focus on human rights into the legal system. During his time in the role, Starmer dealt with a number of major cases including helping to bring Gary Dobson and David Norris, two men accused of murdering Stephen Lawrence, to justice. In February 2010, Starmer announced the CPS's decision to prosecute three Labour MPs and a Conservative peer for offences relating to false accounting in the aftermath of the parliamentary expenses scandal, who were all found guilty. During the 2011 England riots, Starmer prioritised rapid prosecutions of rioters over long sentences, which he later thought had helped to bring "the situation back under control". In February 2012, Starmer announced that Chris Huhne would be prosecuted for perverting the course of justice. In 2013, Starmer announced changes to how sexual abuse investigations are handled in the wake of the Jimmy Savile sexual abuse scandal, including a panel to review historic complaints. Starmer left office in November 2013, and was replaced by Alison Saunders. On conclusion of his five-year term as DPP, he was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB) in the 2014 New Year Honours for services to law and criminal justice.

Barrister

Keir Starmer graduated with a Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of Leeds in 1985 and gained a postgraduate Bachelor of Civil Law degree at St Edmund Hall at the University of Oxford in 1986. He became a barrister in 1987 at the Middle Temple, becoming a bencher there in 2009.[1] Starmer served as a legal officer for the campaign group Liberty until 1990.[2] He was a member of Doughty Street Chambers from 1990 onwards, primarily working on human rights issues.[3][2] He was called to the bar in several Caribbean countries,[4] where he has defended convicts sentenced to the death penalty.[5] He assisted Helen Steel and David Morris in the McLibel case, in the trial and appeal in English courts, also represented them at the European court.[6] The case was seen as a David and Goliath case; a large team of leading lawyers represented McDonald's and the legal bills were estimated at £10m. By contrast Steel and Morris were denied legal aid; they acted on their own with help from lawyers including Starmer.

Starmer was appointed Queen's Counsel on 9 April 2002, aged 39.[7] In the same year, he became joint head of Doughty Street Chambers. Starmer served as a human rights adviser to the Northern Ireland Policing Board and the Association of Chief Police Officers, and was also a member of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office's death penalty advisory panel from 2002 to 2008.[1][2] He later cited his work on policing in Northern Ireland as being a key influence on his decision to pursue a political career: "Some of the things I thought that needed to change in police services we achieved more quickly than we achieved in strategic litigation ... I came better to understand how you can change by being inside and getting the trust of people". During this time he also marched and authored legal opinions against the Iraq War.[5] Starmer stated in 2015 that he believed that the Iraq War was "not lawful under international law because there was no UN resolution expressly authorising it."[8] In 2007, he was named "QC of the Year" by Chambers and Partners.[2]

Director of Public Prosecutions

Appointment

In July 2008, Patricia Scotland, Attorney General for England and Wales, named Starmer as the new head of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and Director of Public Prosecutions. He took over from Ken Macdonald on 1 November 2008.[2] Macdonald, himself a former defence lawyer, publicly welcomed the appointment.[9] Starmer was considered to be bringing a focus on human rights into the legal system.[2][10] During his time in the role, Starmer dealt with a number of major cases including helping to bring two men accused of murdering 18-year-old Stephen Lawrence to justice.

Tenure

Within the first few months of his tenure, Starmer upheld the decision not to prosecute the police officers who had killed Jean Charles de Menezes in a UK High Court appeal lodged by the family.[11] The family then gave up on pursuing charges and nobody has been charged with the death of de Menezes.[12] In 2009, he sought a retrial of terrorists involved in a suicide bombing plot that saw them locked behind bars. Later in 2009, when the Conservative Party proposed repealing the Human Rights Act 1998, Starmer defended it as a "clear and basic statement of our citizens' human rights".[13] Liberty and the Liberal Democrats supported Starmer, while the Conservative MP David T. C. Davies suggested he should be dismissed.[14] In the same year, he called for the CPS to modernise by being more open to scrutiny and less reliant on paper files.[15] In 2011, he introduced reforms that included the "first test paperless hearing".[16]

In February 2010, Starmer announced the CPS's decision to prosecute three Labour MPs and a Conservative peer for offences relating to false accounting in the aftermath of the parliamentary expenses scandal.[17] They were all found guilty.[18] In the same year, he supported proposals to legally recognise different degrees of murder.[19] In 2010, and 2012, Starmer said that there was insufficient evidence to prosecute two members of the UK security services for their alleged role in torture overseas; he supported further investigation.[20][21][22]

In July 2010, Starmer announced the decision not to prosecute the police officer Simon Harwood in relation to the death of Ian Tomlinson; this led to accusations by Tomlinson's family of a police cover-up.[23] After a subsequent inquest found that Tomlinson had been unlawfully killed, Starmer announced that Harwood would be prosecuted for manslaughter. The officer was acquitted by a jury in July 2012 but dismissed from the police that September.[24][25][26]

In September 2010, Stephen Lawrence murder suspects Gary Dobson and David Norris were arrested and charged without publicity.[27] On 23 October 2010, Starmer applied to the Court of Appeal for Dobson's original acquittal to be quashed.[28] Dobson was in prison at the time for drug dealing. Norris had not been previously acquitted, so no application was necessary in his case. For legal reasons, to protect the investigation and ensure a fair hearing, reporting restrictions were put in place at the commencement of these proceedings; the arrests and subsequent developments were not publicly reported at the time.[28] Dobson's acquittal was quashed following a two-day hearing on 11 and 12 April 2011, enabling his retrial.[29] On 18 May 2011, the Court of Appeal handed down its judgment and the reporting restrictions were partially lifted.[28] It was announced by the Crown Prosecution Service that the two would face trial for Lawrence's murder in light of "new and substantial evidence".[27] The judgment of the court stated that "[i]f reliable, the new scientific evidence would place Dobson in very close proximity indeed to Stephen Lawrence at the moment of and in the immediate aftermath of the attack, proximity, moreover, for which no innocent explanation can be discerned".[29] The ruling also emphasised that this was to be "a new trial of a defendant who, we repeat, is presumed in law to be innocent," and suggested a cautious and fact-based reporting style to avoid contempt of court or risk of prejudice to the future trial.[29] A jury was selected on 14 November 2011,[30] and the trial, presided over by Mr Justice Treacy, began the next day at the Central Criminal Court.[31][32] With the prosecution led by Mark Ellison QC, the case centred on the new forensic evidence and whether it demonstrated the defendant's involvement in the murder, or was the result of later contamination due to police handling.[33][34] On 3 January 2012, after the jury had deliberated for just over 8 hours,[35] Dobson and Norris were found guilty of Lawrence's murder.[36] The two were sentenced on 4 January 2012 to detention at Her Majesty's Pleasure, equivalent to a life sentence for an adult,[37] with minimum terms of 15 years and 2 months for Dobson and 14 years and 3 months for Norris.[38][39]

In December 2010, Starmer changed the decision process, including requiring his personal approval, to prosecute women who withdraw accusations of rape after a woman was convicted for perverting the course of justice "despite judges' belief that her claim of long-term abuse, intimidation and rape at the hands of her husband was true".[40] He later produced guidelines to prevent women in similar circumstances from being unfairly prosecuted.[41]

In 2011, thirteen serving and former police officers were prosecuted for perverting the course of justice in the 1988 murder of Lynette White. The prosecution were unable to provide documents which "could have helped" the defendants, that were claimed to have been destroyed by the police officer leading the case against them. The prosecution made the decision, approved by Starmer, not to offer any further evidence, and the trial collapsed.[42][43][44] Starmer ordered a review into the circumstances that had led to the decision and ordered a further review in 2012 when the missing documents were found.[45]

Starmer as Director of Public Prosecutions speaking at Chatham House in 2013

During the 2011 England riots, Starmer prioritised rapid prosecutions of rioters over long sentences, which he later thought had helped to bring "the situation back under control".[46][47] Later that year, after revelations concerning the undercover police infiltration of environmental campaigns, Starmer ordered a review of related convictions and invited protestors convicted of aggravated trespass to appeal their sentences.[48] Starmer declined to authorise a wider enquiry, after a report from the judge Christopher Rose found the issue to be a result of individual fault rather than a systemic problem.[49][50]

In February 2012, Starmer announced that Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, Chris Huhne, and his former wife, Vicky Pryce, would be prosecuted for perverting the course of justice in R v Huhne. Huhne became the first UK cabinet minister in history to be compelled to resign as a result of criminal proceedings.[51] Starmer had previously said in relation to the case that "[w]here there is sufficient evidence we do not shy away from prosecuting politicians".[52] Later that year, he wrote advice for prosecutors, saying that they should consider whether violent protestors organised or prepared for violence, compared to protestors who got "caught up in illegal actions".[53] In the summer of 2012, journalist Nick Cohen published allegations that Starmer was personally responsible for allowing to proceed the prosecution of Paul Chambers in what became known as the "Twitter joke trial". Chambers' conviction of sending a message "of a menacing character" was quashed after a third appeal. The CPS denied that Starmer was behind the decision, saying that it was the responsibility of a Crown Court and was out of Starmer's hands.[54] Later that year, Starmer published a plan for the criminal justice system to better handle cases of female genital mutilation; at the time, the offence had never been successfully prosecuted.[55] At the end of 2012, he published guidance on prosecuting cases of grossly offensive posts on social media that called for caution in prosecuting cases, and considering whether users quickly removed posts or showed remorse.[56][57]

In 2013, Starmer announced changes to how sexual abuse investigations are handled in the wake of the Jimmy Savile sexual abuse scandal and the Operation Yewtree police investigation into Savile's crimes, which resulted in the convictions of other serial sex offenders including Gary Glitter, Rolf Harris and Max Clifford, with Starmer recommending including a panel to review historic complaints of sexual abuse.[58][59] In the same year, he published a study showing that false reports of rape were rare, saying that the "devastating impact of false allegations" and the perception that they are more common than the data support mean that police forces might adopt what he called a cautious approach that can "lead to injustice for victims" of rape.[60] He also started an inquiry into the cause of a reduction in police reports of rape and domestic abuse.[61] In the same year, he altered guidelines for those improperly claiming benefits enabling them to face ten years in prison under the Fraud Act instead of a maximum of seven years under more specific legislation.[62]

Resignation

Starmer left office in November 2013, and was replaced by Alison Saunders.[63][64] Later that month, the Labour Party announced that Starmer would lead an enquiry into changing the law to give further protection to victims in cases of rape and child abuse.[65] On 28 December, he said to BBC News he was "rather enjoying having some free time" and "considering a number of options".[66] There was speculation at the time that he would stand as a Labour Party candidate for the UK Parliament.[67] From 2011 to 2014, Starmer received honorary degrees from several universities, and was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB) in the 2014 New Year Honours for services to law and criminal justice.[68]

Starmer was elected to the House of Commons at the 2015 general election as Member of Parliament (MP) for Holborn and St Pancras, becoming the Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Labour Party four years later.[69]

Awards and honours

The star given to those appointed Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath, including Starmer
Honorary degrees issued to Keir Starmer
Date School Degree
21 July 2011 University of Essex Doctor of university (D.U.)[75]
16 July 2012 University of Leeds Doctor of Laws (LL.D.)[76]
19 November 2013 University of East London Doctor of university (D.U.)[77]
19 December 2013 London School of Economics Doctor of Laws (LL.D.)[78][79]
14 July 2014 University of Reading Doctor of Laws (LL.D.)[80]
18 November 2014 University of Worcester Doctor of university (D.U.)[81]

Publications

Starmer is the author and editor of several books about criminal law and human rights, including:[82]

  • Justice in Error (1993), edited with Clive Walker, London: Blackstone, ISBN 1-85431-234-0.
  • The Three Pillars of Liberty: Political Rights and Freedoms in the United Kingdom (1996), with Francesca Klug and Stuart Weir, London: Routledge, ISBN 0-415-09641-3.
  • Signing Up for Human Rights: The United Kingdom and International Standards (1998), with Conor Foley, London: Amnesty International United Kingdom, ISBN 1-873328-30-3.
  • Miscarriages of Justice: A Review of Justice in Error (1999), edited with Clive Walker, London: Blackstone, ISBN 1-85431-687-7.
  • European Human Rights Law: the Human Rights Act 1998 and the European Convention on Human Rights (1999), London: Legal Action Group, ISBN 0-905099-77-X.
  • Criminal Justice, Police Powers and Human Rights (2001), with Anthony Jennings, Tim Owen, Michelle Strange, and Quincy Whitaker, London: Blackstone, ISBN 1-84174-138-8.
  • Blackstone's Human Rights Digest (2001), with Iain Byrne, London: Blackstone, ISBN 1-84174-153-1.
  • A Report on the Policing of the Ardoyne Parades 12 July 2004 (2004), with Jane Gordon, Belfast: Northern Ireland Policing Board.

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