Former attorney general criticises Tory attacks on 'lefty lawyers'

Two former Conservative law officers have criticised the political rhetoric against "lefty lawyers" as damaging and wrong, while the head of the Law Society warned it could lead to physical attacks on immigration solicitors.

- Rowena Mason Aletha Adu

Dominic Grieve, a former attorney general, and Edward Garnier, a Conservative peer and former solicitor general, said lawyers should not be attacked for doing their jobs, regardless of who they represent or their personal views.

Senior Tory politicians from Rishi Sunak to the party deputy chairman, Lee Anderson, have blamed "lefty lawyers" for thwarting the government's policies to prevent people crossing the Channel in small boats.

The controversy escalated this week after Tory officials circulated criticism of Labour for having links to Jacqueline McKenzie, a partner at the law firm Leigh Day, who has represented an asylum seeker challenging their deportation to Rwanda. She has since received abuse and said yesterday that people have threatened to drown her "like an asylum seeker" and leave dead bodies at her property.

McKenzie said she was still concerned for her security. "I've had a security company come and take look at our house, and decide to cut down a tree because someone could be hiding in it," she said. "I've had death threats from people who clearly know where I live, with all sorts of abuse including threats to drown me like an asylum seeker or leave their bodies in our driveway because there's so much space.