Jeff J Mitchell/PA
Former MP and criminal barrister Anna Soubry is among people condemning an article published by The Sun’s political editor, Harry Cole.
The redtop hack claimed Sir Keir Starmer, a former barrister, “saved” a Jamaican who stabbed a 9-month-old baby pro bono, listing a number of other heinous crimes worked on by the Labour leader during his time in law.
But readers were quick to add vital missing context to the article using X’s new community note function, which has been designed to help stop the spread of misinformation.
Starmer actually took these cases on as pro-bono cases to oppose the death penalty in the Caribbean, not to “save” those facing charges, something he was recognised and rewarded for at the time.
Responding to the post, award-winning author The Secret Barrister pointed out that lawyers represent people who do bad things all the time – “That’s the rule of law. That is civilisation.”
While another person pointed out that if he is going to call out every single barrister who has ever represented a defendant then he might as well start with those that represented the Sun group of newspapers during the phone hacking trials.
Matthew Stadlen, meanwhile, reposted a tweet suggesting that Cole is likely to post more attacks on Starmer as he goes into bat for the Conservatives ahead of the next election.
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