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Human rights campaigners have fired their first shots at Michael Gove after it was revealed he'll be in charge of scrapping the Human Rights Act.

The ex-education secretary was demoted to chief whip last year after his school reforms enraged teaching unions and he had a reported rift with home secretary Theresa May.

Now he is back in the fold after David Cameron promoted him to be justice secretary and Lord Chancellor, putting him in charge of prisons, tribunals, courts and heavily-cut legal aid.

His most controversial job will be axing the 1998 Human Rights Act.

The British law reinforces the European Convention on Human Rights, which was signed in 1950 to prevent the horrors of the Second World War ever happening again.

It prevents torture and slavery, ensures the right to a fair trial and enshrines free speech in British law.

The Tory manifesto pledged to scrap it but many people thought the party would have to drop the vow in coalition.

Instead David Cameron won a Commons majority - and sources have told the Guardian he'll rush scrapping the Human Rights Act into the Queen's Speech on May 27.

The Tories want to replace the law with a British Bill of Rights, which they say would draw power away from Europe and stop terrorists like Abu Qatada halting their own deportations.

But the British Institute of Human Rights charity says that would allow governments to pick and choose what human rights it wants to protect - harming innocent people years down the line.

Director Stephen Bowen told Mirror Online: "We are clear that we have a bill of rights and it’s called the Human Rights Act.

"We believe the Conservative proposals are little more than an act of vandalism, seeking to replace universal human rights agreed the world over with a lesser version.

"Essentially it is the Government telling us what human rights we can have to protect us from them.

"Whoever tries to implement these proposals, we will be encouraging them to think again and protect what protects us all – our Human Rights Act."

Human rights pressure group Liberty said the prospects look grim after the Tories cut legal aid, which funds protection in court for people who can't afford it.

(Image: REUTERS)

Director Shami Chakrabarti: "The Tory experiment in appointing non-lawyers as Lord Chancellor has so far seen the destruction of legal aid and is now aimed at the Human Rights Act.

"Mr Gove will have a hard time persuading Britain's senior judges he respects the Rule of Law."

There are also fears from human rights group Reprieve.

Director Clare Algar said: "We hope that Mr Gove ignores the myths and spin that many others have used against human rights legislation, and considers instead the important central principles.

"This is something which helps defend the weak from the strong, and the individual citizen from the abuses of Government.

"Recent governments of all stripes have done too much to weaken the ability of ordinary people to hold their political masters to account.

"We hope that the new Justice Secretary does not continue down this dangerous route."

The Conservative manifesto says scrapping the Act will "break the formal link between British courts and the European Court of Human Rights, and make our own Supreme Court the ultimate arbiter of human rights matters in the UK".

Health secretary Jeremy Hunt told Newsnight: "It's not that we don't believe in human rights, we all believe in human rights.

"Some of the things that most annoy people on the immigration issue isn't the volume of immigrants, but the fact that you have a terrorist who arrives here who we don't want on our shores and we're not able to deport."