by Sunny Hundal

Yesterday Ken Clarke was asked whether he would repeal the Human Rights Act 1998 and withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights.

Here is his response (via ConHome):

The coalition Government do not intend to withdraw from the European convention on human rights, which was imposed by the victorious British on the rest of Europe after the war in order to establish British values across the countries that were recovering from fascism and was drafted largely by Sir David Maxwell Fyfe, who put what he thought were the best principles of British justice into it.

That effectively kills the the flagship Tory commitment to scrapping the Human Rights Act and replacing it with a British Bill of Rights.

I’m surprised the Tory right hasn’t erupted in a huge outcry over this.

It was only two years ago Cameron repeated his pledge to scrap the Act altogether and replace it with “tougher standards for British courts”.

Or a British Bill of Rights as he called it.

Anyway, we can chalk this up as a Libdem victory within the Coalition and should sincerely congratulate them on winning the internal battle. The HRA was an important piece of legislation and it would be madness to leave the ECHR.