NEWLY-ELECTED British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, KC, has been hailed as a champion of human rights in the Caribbean region by several members of the local law fraternity, with which Starmer, a former director of public prosecutions (DPP) in the UK, has strong ties.
Starmer, leader of the Labour Party, became prime minister after the UK general election on July 4. He takes over from Rishi Sunak, who stepped down as prime minister and leader of the Conservative Party after a massive defeat that saw his party, also known as the Tories, lose over 200 parliamentary seats. Labour made a corresponding gain.
A strong connection with Trinidad and Tobago
Rajiv Persad, head of Allum Chambers in Port of Spain, said he has known Starmer for over 25 years. He described Starmer as a passionate lawyer who enjoyed criminal law from both the defence and prosecution sides.
“My first case with him was in 1997, where we represented a housewife in Trinidad and Tobago charged for murder. Her name was Ann-Marie Boodram. Keir and the chamber were able to persuade the Privy Council that this woman suffered a miscarriage of justice, having been convicted of murder,” he said. “I was a young lawyer – I must have been out about two or three years. So as a young lawyer, getting to be exposed to these people, it was a great opportunity.”
Starmer worked closely with Allum Chambers, being based there whenever he was in Trinidad and Tobago. Persad said he was well regarded in the Privy Council for his work in human rights in the late 90s and early 2000s, particularly in challenging the mandatory death sentence.
Starmer gave his services pro bono in several regional cases involving the death penalty. One of the more notable ones was the 2004 Barbados case of Lennox Boyce and Jeffrey Joseph v the Queen. The Privy Council held that the mandatory death penalty was protected by the “savings clause” in the country’s Constitution.
Thanks to the work of Starmer and a team of lawyers representing people facing hanging, the Board of the Privy Council ruled that the mandatory death penalty constituted inhuman or degrading treatment. But it maintained that it was Parliament’s responsibility to get rid of a mandatory death penalty, not the courts’.
Douglas Mendes, SC, who also worked with Starmer on the anti-death-penalty cases, also described him as an attorney of the highest calibre and devoted to human rights.
“The fact that he was doing human-rights work pro bono in the Caribbean would give you an idea of his outlook. He was willing to spend the time to ensure the rights given in the Constitution are upheld.”
Mendes added that the fact Starmer worked mostly on death-penalty cases, ensuring human rights were afforded to people whom the rest of society had rejected, also showed his devotion to the cause.
Starmer was also involved in other high-profile cases. Persad said he led Allum Chambers and other attorneys in one of the many matters involving businessmen Ish Galbaransingh and Steve Ferguson and the Piarco Airport corruption i
