Sir, David Cameron and Michael Gove are right to draw a line between continuing to trade, to Britain’s considerable advantage, with a country whose human rights we find totally distasteful, and providing men and training skills to that country for the direct purpose of improving the efficiency of their human rights abuses.
Perhaps more to the point of Stanley Brodie’s letter (Oct 14), but contrary to his opinion, it is judges who must not take sides: lawyers can and should. There can be no reason why lawyers, who might contribute knowledge and experience to human rights issues, should not express their views in such a letter, as long as they are not sitting judges who would thereby be compromising judicial independence. Perhaps even former judges might be wise to refrain from involvement, lest their judgments, having been recorded, might encourage the suspicion that they were not always objective.
Sir Ivan Lawrence, QC
Temple, London EC4