Amal Clooney resigns as Britain's special envoy on media freedom

Amal Clooney, the famous human rights lawyer, resigned as the UK's special envoy on media freedom on Friday in protest at the Government's plan to break international law with the Internal Market Bill.

Mrs Clooney, married to the film star George Clooney, wrote to Dominic Raab, the Foreign Secretary, to tell him she was quitting because of the "lamentable Bill".

She said the UK's actions threatened "to embolden autocratic regimes that violate international law, with devastating consequences all over the world".

Her decision to quit follows the resignations of two other senior lawyers – the advocate general for Scotland, Lord Keen, and the head of the Government Legal Department, Sir Jonathan Jones.

It will add to the pressure on Boris Johnson, who has been facing calls to drop measures in the Bill enabling ministers to override provisions in the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement relating to Northern Ireland.

In the House of Commons on September 8, the Northern Ireland Secretary, Brandon Lewis, admitted that the legislation broke international law in a "specific and limited way" (see video below).

Mrs Clooney wrote to Mr Raab: "I have been dismayed to learn that the Government intends to pass legislation – the Internal Market Bill – which, if enacted, would by the Government's own admission, 'break international law'.

"It is lamentable for the UK to be speaking of its intention to violate an international treaty signed by the Prime Minister less than a year ago."

The British-Lebanese barrister said she had received "no assurances" from Mr Raab that the Government planned to change course, which left her "no alternative" but to resign.

Mrs Clooney was originally appointed to the role of special envoy by the then Foreign Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, in 2019.

Mr Johnson appeared to have headed off a looming Commons revolt through a deal with Tory rebels, in which he agreed there would have to be a vote by MPs before ministers could activate the powers.

The move is unlikely to be enough to placate either all the critics of the Bill or the EU, which has warned that the legislation could force the collapse of trade negotiations with Brussels.

Even if the Bill gets through the Commons unscathed next week, there are likely to be further attempts to amend the legislation when it gets to the House of Lords.