Tom Tugendhat MP references his Policy Exchange paper “The Fog of Law” in the Daily Telegraph. Reflecting on the Government’s announcement that parts of the European Convention on Human Rights will be suspended during military conflicts, Tugendhat writes:
“The issues that gave rise to this necessary change were first set out in the paper I wrote in 2013 for Policy Exchange called Fog of Law and have been becoming clearer for a generation of commanders at every level. By holding up the actions of lance corporals and junior officers for inquisition in the calm of a courtroom a decade later, those in the heat of battle today are forced to consider not just the actions of the enemy but the potential questions of the judge, ending the long-held right of combat immunity which guaranteed the right to act in the heat of battle without fear of prosecution. Today, we are seeing the consequences in the Iraq Historic Allegations Team.”