Exquisite Tweets from @davidallengreen
Collected by Preoccupations
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2. Once upon a time Theresa was Home Secretary.
One day she had to deal with a request from Jordan for Abu's deportation.
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3. She was not the first Home Secretary to have to deal with this request. But there was a problem.
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4. The was the prospect that the evidence to be used against Abu in Jordan had been obtained by torture.
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5. And if so, it was not lawfully open to the UK under ECHR to deport anybody if there was prospect of torture-gained evidence being used.
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6. So what did Theresa do?
She huffed and puffed at the courts, spending huge amounts of public money.
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7. Click here bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/… and see how many QCs she instructed for one appeal.
One QC.
Two QCs.
Three QCs.
Yes, three QCs.
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8. Those in the media who rail against "fat cat lawyers" didn't mind the government instructing three QCs at public expense, in this case.
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9. But Theresa still lost that case. She lost every appeal, however much taxpayers' money she threw at the case.
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10. And the reason she lost was, well, because torture is absolutely wrong, and no one should be deported to face torture-based evidence.
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11. Having lost in her attempt at shouting at the courts, Theresa tried a new tactic.
She shouted at Europe.
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12. It was seriously suggested that the UK "temporarily" leave the ECHR - see theguardian.com/law/2013/apr/2…
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13. This idea did not get far, because it was laughed at by a Lord Chancellor called Kenneth.
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14. But Theresa had got the tabloids in a frenzy at this case - she had shouted at the courts and at Europe, but none of it had worked.
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15. And so Theresa quietly did a sensible deal with Jordan where they agreed never to use torture-based evidence.
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16. You would say this was a Good Thing, as it meant there would be no torture-based evidence used in Jordan again.
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17. But Theresa did not want to talk about it.
Instead she made out she had deported him "despite" ECHR rather than in compliance with it.
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18. So despite huffing and puffing and exciting the tabloids and threatening suspension and appealing, she did what the ECHR required anyway
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19. Theresa ended up doing a sensible deal on Abu, contrary to the expectations and demands of the press, but then pretended she hadn't.
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20. In turn, Abu in Jordan was cleared, as the supposed serious (torture-based) evidence against him was no longer admissible.
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21. And Theresa got another job where she shouted at courts and at Europe, getting press into a frenzy, and then she....
(to be continued).
davidallengreen