‘Reform or die’ thinking persuaded Labour to go to Strasbourg – but will voters be convinced?

The sight of David Lammy and Richard Hermer arriving together in Strasbourg to demand new constraints on human rights law would have been unthinkable even a year ago.

- Jessica Elgot

But as one ally says, quoting The Leopard: “If we want things to stay as they are, things will have to change.”

It was that sentiment that convinced Lammy’s predecessor, Shabana Mahmood, now home secretary, that the UK should join the push to reform how the European convention on human rights (ECHR) should be interpreted. It was Mahmood who made the determined argument from within the government that Labour must act to prevent the perceived overreach of human rights law or risk far worse if it loses the next election to the hard right.

And it is that message - reform or die - that has won over a considerable number of Labour MPs, including Lammy, a veteran of the struggle for racial justice, and Hermer, an eminent human rights barrister, both once considered sceptical of that mission.