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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Times letters: Government’s breach of international law

The Times

Sir, The admission by the Northern Ireland secretary that the government is prepared to break the law is shocking, if sadly no longer surprising (“Johnson faces Tory backlash over deal that breaks the law”, Sep 9). Sir Jonathan Jones, an outstanding public servant, has resigned as Treasury solicitor rather than countenance being party to such conduct. He was right to do so. But if he has resigned, why are the law officers still in post?

When Harold Macmillan appointed Peter Rawlinson solicitor-general in 1962 he gave him a seminar on the history and role of the law officers and then told him firmly that his first loyalty was to the rule of law, his second to parliament and his third (and very much third) was