Dominic Grieve named chairman of intelligence and security committee
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Version 0 of 1. Dominic Grieve, the former Conservative attorney general, has been appointed as the chair of the British parliament’s intelligence and security committee. Recent reforms mean that the ISC can appoint its own chair, though it can only vote for someone who has already been nominated by the prime minister. One of the first tasks of the newly assembled committee is likely to involve scrutinising the use of unmanned RAF aerial drones to kill British jihadis on a “kill list” drawn up by senior ministers on the UK national security council. The appointment puts in place an MP who has not shirked from criticism of government policy under David Cameron, warning that opting out of the European court of human rights would have devastating consequences for the UK. He also backed a resumption of the judge-led Gibson inquiry into the treatment of detainees at a time when ministers were under pressure to order a fresh public inquiry into British involvement in US torture after a US Senate report into the CIA’s brutal interrogation techniques. Grieve’s elevation to chair the ISC was announced in a press release issued by the committee, which said there would be no further comment on any issue until it met formally for the first time after the House of Commons returned in October. Grieve has also spoken out to warn that removing passports from UK-born citizens returning home would breach international law and UK common law. He replaces Sir Malcolm Rifkind, who announced that he would stand down as a Conservative MP after making “errors of judgment” in a cash-for-access scandal. Rifkind said he would also stand down as chairman of the ISC with immediate effect to ensure its work would not be overshadowed by the controversy. Grieve served as the government’s legal adviser from 2010-14, when he was was among a string of casualties in a cabinet reshuffle. |