Sir Keir Starmer has been branded a disgrace for stopping the deportation of a hate preacher.
Former policy analyst Nile Gardiner wrote on X that Sir Keir helped renowned hate preacher Abu Qatada’s fight against deportation.
Sir Keir represented Qatada at a hearing in 2008 when he was a leading KC barrister.
GB News reported that at the time Sir Keir was one of several leading human rights lawyers who represented Qatada.
A spokesperson for the Labour leader said his job as a lawyer was to sometimes represent people he didn’t agree with.
They said the allegations were “desperate attacks from a Tory party that has given up on running the country”.
They explained: “Keir Starmer was the country’s most senior prosecutor, serving under Labour and Tory governments. During this time, he oversaw the first-ever prosecution of al-Qaeda terrorists, the jailing of the airline liquid bomb plotters and racist murderers of Stephen Lawrence.
“With his leadership, charge and conviction rates for sexual offences rose, victims were better supported, and the CPS was positively reformed. Of course, as a lawyer he has had to represent people whose views he doesn’t agree with – that’s what the job of a lawyer involves.
“These are simply desperate attacks from a Tory Party that has given up on running the country.”
Speaking about Sir Keir’s past, former Home Secretary Priti Patel said: “Keir Starmer is a man who aspires to be the prime minister of our country but in his professional capacity as a criminal lawyer he helped to free from jail serious criminals who posed a threat to society and caused harm to others.
“This raises serious questions about his ability to ensure the public is protected and that dangerous criminals are kept behind bars.”
The Telegraph reported that Sir Keir issued a technical point of law during a 2006 hearing in relation to Qatada as he fought deportation.
Sir Keir later also acted for Qatada at a Special Immigration Appeals Commission hearing in June 2008.
Qatada initially arrived in the UK in 1993 on a false passport before he was granted asylum in 1994. In 1995 he issued a fatwa in relation to killing Muslims who renounce their faith.
Four years later in 1999, he reportedly effectively issued a second fatwa advocating the killing of Jewish people.
He was deported from the UK to Jordan in 2013 and his imprisonment ceased in 2014 when he was cleared of charges by a Jordanian court.
