Letters: it would be the height of stupidity to ditch the ECHR

The sanctity of the ECHR

Sir: Jonathan Sumption’s criticisms of the European Convention on Human Rights (‘Ruled out’, 30 September) are as lucid and as logical as one would expect from such an admired jurist. He provides a persuasive case as to why the UK could withdraw from the ECHR while preserving all the basic rights that we value and which are enshrined by the Convention.

Uncharacteristically, however, he fails to mention the single most important reason why the UK was at the forefront of the creation of the Convention – and the accompanying court – in 1949.

It was not to ensure that basic human rights were enjoyed in the United Kingdom or in other stable democracies which already enjoyed the rule of law and personal freedom. To quote Sir David Maxwell Fyfe, one of the prime authors of the Convention (who became lord chancellor), it was to get a list of ‘basic personal rights to be acknowledged by all governments and a minimum standard of democratic conduct for all members’.

Germany had just emerged from Nazism, Italy from fascism and many other European countries had suffered from dictatorship and autocracy. The UK was leading the successful efforts to entrench democracy and human rights throughout western Europe.

Russia is the only country to have left the European Convention. It was expelled after its invasion of Ukraine. Do we really want to join Putin by abandoning one of the cornerstones of the rule of law in Europe?

The rule of law and democratic values are already under attack by political extremists of right and left in various parts of Europe. The European Convention remains a vital bulwark to protect personal freedom. It would be the height of stupidity and irresponsibility for the UK to throw the baby out with the bathwater because of the current dispute about the lawfulness of transporting illegal migrants to Rwanda.

French letters

Sir: In his review of Sarah Ogilvie’s book on the Oxford English Dictionary (Books, 23 September), Henry Hitchings refers to an eye surgeon, James Dixon, having the condom in mind when in 1888 he wrote: ‘Everything obscene comes from France.’