Bartholomew's Notes

The Christian Legal Centre is a project of the campaigning group Christian Concern, which I have discussed a number of times on this blog. Some background and criticism are provided by the blogging solicitor Nearly Legal here.

Stroilov is better known as the author of Behind the Desert Storm: A Secret Archive Stolen from the Kremlin that Sheds New Light on the Arab Revolutions in the Middle East, which was not well-received by scholars; The Times notes a scathing review in the Journal of Cold War Studies, which judged the work to be “full of nonsense, some of it derived from far-fetched interpretations of Stroilov’s source material and some borrowed from popular conspiracy theories.” For example:

Stroilov believes he has uncovered an international conspiracy—chiefly directed by Gorbachev, but with the assistance of U.S. President George H. W. Bush—aimed at returning Israel to its 1947 borders as a quid pro quo for Iraq’s withdrawal from Kuwait. Gorbachev’s anti-Jewish “socialist jihad” was part and parcel of his mission of “conquering the world” by using the “Red Arabs” of the Middle East, especially the Iraqis, Syrians, Libyans, and Egyptians, as his proxies. Bush (who, Stroilov suggests at one point, was Gorbachev’s “agent”) was duped into playing along because he was so heavily invested in building a “new world order” (p. 167).

Stroilov had previously published a pamphlet entitled EUSSR: The Soviet Roots of European Integration, co-authored with the UK-based Soviet dissident Vladimir Bukovsky, and in 2013 they took to Breitbart to commend Diana West‘s book American Betrayal (prompting criticism from Conrad Black in the National Review). He has also worked for the UKIP MEP Gerard Batten (now party leader), and in 2013 the two men co-wrote two books (both published by Bretwalda Books: “Our non-fiction range concentrates on History, Politics and the Paranormal”). (1)

Batten also has direct links with Bukovsky: in 2011 they instructed the barrister Paul Diamond to “intervene” on behalf of Julian Assange (the application was dismissed by the Supreme Court), shortly after  Bukovsky had asked Diamond to seek the arrest of Mikhail Gorbachev during a visit by the former USSR president to the UK (also rejected). (2)

Diamond is the CLC’s “standing legal counsel”, and he represented Alfie Evans’s family at the Court of Appeal last month – and like Striolov, he was also rebuked by Mr Justice Hayden (“I don’t need to be reminded we have a human being. You do not have the moral high ground in this court. It is treacherous terrain”). He and Batten in turn were previously linked via a “Proposed Charter of Muslim Understanding” that Batten launched at the House of Lords in 2007. This was a proposed loyalty oath for Muslims written by an activist named Sam Solomon; Batten provided the foreword, and the acknowledgements include thanks to Diamond for his “legal expertise” (Solomon later took the concept to the US, where it was promoted by Rick Womick, State Representative for Tennessee’s 34th District).

As noted previously on this blog, Christian Concern has number of US links: it takes advice from the Alliance Defense Fund and is a “partner” of the World Congress of Families. There was also a link with the Tennessee Freedom Coalition, although that group appears to now be moribund. In 2011, Diamond addressed a meeting of MassResistance alongside the anti-gay activist Scott Lively, and Christian Concern promoted Lively during a trip to the UK a few years ago. However, Diamond is clear that he does not himself oppose gay rights, and he received an out-of-court settlement in 2005 when a religious news website apparently suggested otherwise.

Religious legal activism during the Alfie Evans case has also had a Catholic angle; on 25 April Sky News’s Health Correspondent Paul Kelso noted on Twitter that “Barrister & solicitor for Ms James [Alfie Evans’s mother] recruited by a supporter, Caroline Farrow, today. Phone, with Ms James on the line, handed to barrister, for their first conversation, by executive director of Christian Legal Centre”. The barrister here was Jason Coppel QC – an odd decision given Diamond’s involvement, and it prompted Mail Online to ask “Why did Alfie Evans’ parents take different lawyers to their latest appeal?” Farrow is frequent media commentator, brought into TV debates to provide a Catholic perspective; previously, she did so as a member of a lay group called Catholic Voices, although that affiliation appears not be current.

Farrow’s involvement has been criticised by Michael Mylonas QC, who led Alder Hey Hospital’s legal team in the case. He suggests that Farrow made misleading statements about Alfie Evans’s condition, and that she “breached” a Reporting Restriction Order in an article she wrote on the subject. In response, Farrow says that she had only “reflected” on the effects of medication “before the 2nd scan”, that her article had been published before the order came into existence and that she had complied with it within hours.

Farrow also accuses “a group of lawyers” of “engaging with troll accounts” that in turn have elicited further abusive comments, and she says that she finds it “alarming and distressing” to be “lied about by lawyers” – a choice of wording obviously meant to invoke the “alarm and distress” criteria for the criminal offence of malicious communication (this is not a new strategy). Farrow has also cut links with the website Conservative Woman, after the site’s editor Laura Perrins asked Farrow not not use her affiliation with the site as a credential in media appearances relating to the case – Farrow felt the need to publish their private exchange of messages, as documented by Tim Fenton here.

Footnotes

(1) One of these works, Inglorious Revolution. How the English Constitution was Subverted: And How to Reclaim Our Sovereignty is noted in the latest issue of Private Eye (1469, p. 7). The magazine notes the incongruity of such a title given that former UKIP leader Nigel Farage is now railing against the UK’s “state-run medical system… backed up by the state court” on Fox News, and that the Christian Legal Centre is asserting its right “to appeal… to the European Court”.

(2) In late 2016, Bukovsky went on trial accused of the possession of child abuse images on his computer; however, the trial was adjourned due to ill health and is now “postponed indefinitely”.