Who will replace lord keen to serve a law-breaking uk government?

It came as little surprise when Lord Keen of Elie, the UK Government’s law officer for Scotland, tendered his resignation in the wake of Brandon Lewis’s statement that the UK Internal Market

Bill would break international law “in a very specific and limited way.” In fact the only real question is what took the Advocate General so long. Richard Keen QC is a former Dean of the

Faculty of Advocates and well respected at the Scottish bar as an extremely able lawyer. In 2018 he represented the UK Government in the case about whether Article 50 could be unilaterally

revoked and, in 2019, in the prorogation case. The fact that he lost both cases should not be taken as any reflection upon his abilities or his probity. > The UK Govt’s highest Scots law 

officer has resigned over Boris > Johnson’s desire to break international law and grab powers from > the Scottish Parliament. >  > Will @Douglas4Moray & Baroness 

@RuthDavidsonMSP now condemn the > Internal Market Bill, or are they in Boris Johnson’s pocket? > pic.twitter.com/1MNNNhBIBL >  > — The SNP (@theSNP) September 16, 2020 In the

prorogation case, for example, until the UK Supreme Court’s unanimous ruling, there was a degree of disagreement about whether the course of action pursued by Boris Johnson had been

unlawful. Here there can be no doubt. It is there in black and white in the bill that parts of it will have effect _“notwithstanding any relevant international…law with which they may be

incompatible or inconsistent_”. To argue as Suella Braverman, the English Attorney General, has done that the English doctrine of parliamentary sovereignty means that it is lawful for the UK

to override the obligations Boris Johnson signed up to in the Withdrawal Agreement is legally illiterate.  As recently as 2017 the UK Supreme Court confirmed that treaties between sovereign

states are governed by international law not by the domestic law of any state. If Suella Braverman had applied the most rudimentary legal analysis, she would realise that this means, so far

as international law is concerned, the English doctrine of parliamentary sovereignty cannot supersede the UK’s obligations in the Withdrawal Agreement. Richard Keen’s departure was hastened

by a less than impressive appearance before the Lords EU Withdrawal Committee and, earlier in the Lords, when he tried to slither out of the consequences of Brandon Lewis’s admission by

saying Mr Lewis had “essentially answered the wrong question.” > 🚨 The Tories’ economic plans for Brexit UK have been exposed as > a full-frontal assault on devolution. >  > 📺 

Watch this video to find out why and share it with your > followers, friends and family. >  > 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Let’s make it loud and clear: hands > off Scotland’s powers. 

pic.twitter.com/xbIytEwFGU >  > — The SNP (@theSNP) September 9, 2020 Well, Lord Keen has now answered the right question – whether any law officer worth their salt can remain a

Minister in the Johnson Government – correctly. Notwithstanding some typical Tory skulduggery when in 2015 they changed the wording of the Ministerial Code; England’s Court of Appeal has

held that the overarching duty of ministers to comply with the law in that code includes international law. So Richard Keen must have been pretty worried about his duties as a Minister as

well as an Officer of the court. The English Law officers should really tender their resignations for the same reason, but I suspect they won’t, because, unlike Keen, they have been selected

for their slavish devotion to the Johnson agenda rather than their legal ability. One big question remains. Who will replace Richard Keen? I suspect Johnson will find it hard to find anyone

of suitable seniority at the Scottish Bar who is willing to do so. Should the role remain vacant section 87(3) of the Scotland Act stipulates that the Advocate General’s functions shall be

exercisable by another Minister of the Crown chosen by the Prime Minister. One more lickspittle without a clue about Scotland’s law or constitutional tradition telling us what to do should

go down well in Scotland.