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28 March 2025 / Roger Smith
Issue: 8110 / Categories: Opinion , Rule of law
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The lecture that never was?

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What is the point of a state adhering to the rule of law if it doesn’t talk about it? Roger Smith ponders a mysterious cancellation

Let’s begin with what might—or might not—be a mystery. Lord Hermer, the Attorney General (AG), was advertised as giving the Miriam Rothschild Memorial Lecture on the subject ‘What has the rule of law ever done for us?’ in mid-March. Good title. Surely nothing out of order there. But this broad topic was rapidly cut back to the much more limited ‘The rule of law and the government’s missions’ (there were five: could you name them?), and then, just as abruptly, was cancelled. Regrettably, it was said that the AG was ‘likely to be abroad’.

So, what is to be seen here? The usual exigencies of government, or something more interesting?

Personal commitment

Lord Hermer’s personal commitment to the rule of law cannot be questioned. He is a veteran of Geoffrey Robertson’s Doughty Street Chambers and a former head of Matrix—from which he was plucked by

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