Resignation of Richard Keen QC as Advocate General for Scotland

Richard Keen QC (Lord Keen of Elie) has resigned from the post of Advocate General for Scotland in Boris Johnson's government. For any law officer with a modicum of integrity this was inevitable on the promotion of a Bill which deliberately seeks to empower UK ministers to breach the United Kingdom's obligations under an international treaty. The only surprises are (1) that it took Lord Keen so long to take this step and (2) that the law officers for England, and the Lord Chancellor, have not followed suit. 

Richard Keen has long been involved in the Lockerbie case. He represented Lamin Fhimah who was acquitted at the Zeist trial and, as Advocate General since May 2015, his office has represented the UK Government's interest in the Lockerbie case, in particular in asserting public interest immunity in respect of documents claimed by the Megrahi legal team to be necessary for the proper conduct of the current (and the previous) appeal against conviction. References to him on this blog can be found here.