A late conversion

Lord Carlile has attacked unelected Strasbourg judges for making too narrow an interpretation of the European Convention on Human Rights and thus coming into conflict with the British parliament. His main area of concern has been the way in which the Euro judges prevent us from chucking out illegal asylum seekers, foreign criminals and potential terrorists. His comments come in a pamphlet produced by the ever excellent think tank Civitas.

That’s Lord Carlile, then. Or Alex Carlile, as he was once more crudely known, the Liberal and then Liberal Democrat MP for Montgomeryshire from 1983 to 1997. Has any British party been more fervent in its insistence that British law should be subsumed by the laws of unelected judges in Strasbourg? Has any British political party been more fervent in its support for the European Convention on Human Rights? One welcomes Carlile’s gradual conversion (he’s been moving this way since about September 11, 2001) – but it’s a bit of a cheek, isn’t it?