Электронная книга: Dominic Raab «The Assault on Liberty: What Went Wrong with Rights»

Dominic Rennie Raab^[2] (born 25 February 1974) is a British Conservative politician. He is the Member of Parliament for Esher and Walton in Surrey and is a former international business lawyer.

Biography

Raab grew up in Buckinghamshire, to a Czech father, who came to Britain in 1938 as a Jewish refugee. Raab went to Dr Challoner's Grammar School in Amersham. He went on to Oxford University, where he read law. After graduating, Raab gained a Masters from Cambridge University. Raab started his career as a business lawyer at Linklaters in London. Raab spent the summer of 1998 at Birzeit University (near Ramallah) where he worked for one of the principal Palestinian negotiators of the Oslo peace accords, assessing World Bank projects on the West Bank.

In 2000, Raab joined the Foreign Office, covering a range of briefs including leading a team at the British Embassy in The Hague, dedicated to bringing war criminals to justice. Upon returning to London, he advised on the Arab-Israeli Conflict, the European Union, and Gibraltar. From 2006 to 2010, Raab worked in Parliament as Chief of Staff to Shadow Home Secretary David Davis, and to fellow lawyer and Shadow Secretary of State for Justice Dominic Grieve.

Political career

Raab was elected to Parliament to represent Esher & Walton at the 2010 election with a total of 32,134 votes (a popular vote of 58.9%).^[3] Dominic gained a majority of 18,593 over his nearest rival.^[3]

Raab lives in and commutes from the constituency. Since the election, he has campaigned for fairer funding for local services in Elmbridge, stronger local democracy in the running of community hospitals in Cobham, Walton and Molesey, in favour of more visible and responsive policing and against the construction of an M25 service station at Downside.^[4]

In the House of Commons, he has spoken out strongly in support of the coalition government’s plans to cut the budget deficit, expand academy schools, repeal ID cards and enact a Freedom Bill.^[5] He criticised the government for opting into the EU directive on a European Investigation Order, arguing it would strain operational policing resources, and dilute safeguards protecting UK citizens from misuse of personal data and guaranteeing a fair trial.^[6]

In July 2010 he secured a review of ‘positive discrimination’ rules being applied to Foreign Office work experience schemes, having been contact by a constituent who had been rejected from the scheme for failing to meet "the social criteria". The two programmes at the organisation all barred white males from applying other than those from low income backgrounds, Raab argued they re-introduced discrimination ‘via the backdoor’.^[7] The MP welcomed the review, blaming the situation on the previous Labour government. He stated "positive discrimination is wrong in the same way as negative discrimination. It means people are thinking in terms of social criteria and it is anti-meritocratic.”^[8]

He came to media attention in August 2010, after requesting that the pressure group 38 Degrees remove his parliamentary email address from their website, to avoid being swamped with large numbers of identical emails. Whilst encouraging constituents to email, write to him, comment on his blog or attend one of his public meetings, he argued that ‘lobby groups’ sending or coordinating ‘clone emails’ designed to deluge MP’s inboxes detracted from their ability to help those in real need. 38 Degrees said that the email address is paid for by taxpayers' money and is in the public domain, thus they have every right to host it on their website and use it for campaigning.^[9][10]

In January 2011, Raab raised the case of a local constituent, killed in a brutal attack, when the perpetrator could not be deported back to Nepal in case it disrupted his family ties.^[11]

On 10 February 2011, Raab gave the winding up speech in the debate on whether to give prisoners the vote, arguing that freedom entails responsibility and that elected law-makers in the House of Commons rather than unaccountable judges in Strasbourg should decide the matter.^[12][13][14]

On 26 April 2011, Raab presented a Ten Minute Rule Bill to the House of Commons entitled Industrial Relations (Voting Procedures). The bill argued that emergency service and transport Unions should be required by law to ensure that strike votes receive 50% support of union members. Raab argued that reform was needed to prevent "militant union bosses" holding the "hard working majority" to ransom.^[15][16]

In June 2011, Raab wrote an article^[17] for the Telegraph, where he called for a ban on taxpayers subsidising union activity within the UK Government departments and agencies. Figures from the Ministry of Justice showed it had spent more than £6million on staff working on union activities in 2008/9. Raab argued that at a time when the Government and the country are tightening their belts taxpayers' money should not be spent on subsidising union activities. He suggested that the Government ask the National Audit Office to undertake an inquiry to uncover the full extent of the cost to the taxpayer of union subsidisation across the public sector.

On 22 June 2011, the Joint Committee on Human Rights (JCHR) published a report on The Human Rights Implications of UK Extradition.^[18] As a member of the JCHR, Raab proposed that the committee look into the issue of fast-track extradition of British citizens following several instances of miscarriages of justice. In an article for The Times(The Times newspaper, Thunderer Column, 22 June 2011). Raab argued that more needed to be done to portect British citizens subject to European Arrest Warrants. The JCHR have called for safeguards to ensure warrants are not issued for minor offences and when there is minimal evidence and checks to prevent extradition for investigation rather than prosecution.

In October 2011, Raab participated in a debate for The Guardian on human rights with Shami Chakrabati of Liberty^[19]. In the piece, Raab argued for a British bill of rights rather than the Human Rights Act both to protect our core freedoms and curtail judicial legislation.

Following the publication of Sir Scott Baker’s report on extradition, Raab wrote an article for the Daily Mail^[20]. He said the government should disregard the Baker report and instead institute a radical overhaul of the current system, based on the recommendations of the Joint Committee on Human Rights.

On 16 November 2011, Raab won “Newcomer of the Year” at The Spectator’s Parliamentary Awards^[21].

Writings

Civil liberties and justice

In 2009, Raab published his first book, The Assault on Liberty — What Went Wrong with Rights,^[22] in which he argued against what he claimed was "Labour's attacks on Britain's proud tradition of freedom".

In October 2010, he published Fight Terror, Defend Freedom, a pamphlet on the Home Office counter-terrorism review.^[23]

In January 2011, Raab wrote an article on the use of control orders in counter terrorism cases in which he contended that they are ineffective and should be scrapped with a greater focus on prosecutions.^[24]

Raab published a pamphlet with the think-tank Civitas entitled Strasbourg in the Dock in April 2011. The pamphlet follows Parliament's recent rejection of a European Court ruling giving prisoners the right to vote. Raab argues that unelected judges have overstepped the mark in relation to the Hirst case. He contends that many of the judges are lacking in experience and as a result "are undermining the credibility and value of the Court".^[25] He makes a range of proposals to strengthen the authority of Britain's Supreme Court, give elected law-makers the last word on creation of new rights and reform of the Strasbourg Court.

In July 2011, Raab called for reform of the UK Borders Act (2007) which currently allows foreign criminals to avoid deportation by claiming a "right to family life" under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights. Raab has proposed that the reference to the Human Rights Act be removed. He argues this could be done in a way that ensures foreign criminals could only avoid deportation if there is a "serious risk" they will be tortured on their return.^[26]

Equality, meritocracy and positive discrimination

On 30 January, he wrote a comment piece for the Sunday Times on the Equality Act. Raab argued for a meritocratic approach against positive discrimination and highlighted the lower standard of human rights protections in extradition cases compared to deportation cases.^[27]

In a 24 January 2011 article on the Politics Home website, Raab argued in favour of transferable paternity leave and against "the equality bandwagon" "pitting men and women against each other". He also argued in favour of a consistent approach to sexism against men and women commenting that some feminists were "now amongst the most obnoxious bigots" and it was sexist to blame men for the recession.^[28] Raab highlighted the wide range of sex discrimination faced by males including "anti-male discrimination in rights of maternity/paternity leave" young boys being "educationally disadvantaged compared to girls", and how "divorced or separated fathers are systematically ignored by the courts." Raab stated "from the cradle to the grave, men are getting a raw deal. Men work longer hours, die earlier, but retire later than women", noting that the pensions inequalities were still not going to be rectified for another seven years.^[29][30]

He was subsequently interviewed on the piece by the Evening Standard^[31] and BBC Radio 4.^[32] Theresa May the Minister for Women and Equalities criticised Raab's "obnoxious bigots" comment but agreed with his suggestions on paternity leaving and ending gender warfare^[33] Raab's remarks were condemned by Labour MPs such as Harriet Harman and Nia Griffith who said Raab should "stop being so self-pitying".^[34] However, Raab stood by his comments in a comment piece for The Telegraph, highlighting the various sexist statements Harman had made about men, contrasting them with similar comments about women by the likes of Andy Gray.^[35] Raab also noted he had received an "overwhelmingly positive" reaction to his comments "from both men and women".^[36]

After the Coalition and the Future of Conservatism

In October 2011 Dominic Raab, along with 4 other 2010 intake MPs published 'After the Coalition', arguing that Conservative principles adapted to the modern world are essential for future national success of the party. The book was serialised in the Daily Telegraph. Raab wrote his piece for the paper on British foreign policy. He argued foreign policy should reflect the national interest – Britain should not over extend itself in foreign conflicts, aid should be focused on the poorest countries and Britain should champion free trade abroad^[37].

Raab also contributed to David Davis' book, The Future of Conservatism, with a chapter on trade union reform. This came off the back of other work by Raab on the subject.

Regulation

In November 2011, Raab wrote a pamphlet published by the Centre for Policy Studies, Escaping the Strait Jacket - Ten Regulatory Reforms to Create Jobs. The paper makes the case for reforming red-tape to boost job creation on grounds of economic competitiveness and social fairness^[38].

Personal life

Raab is married to Erika Raab, a Brazilian marketing executive, and they live in Thames Ditton, Surrey.^[39]

Raab is a black belt 3rd Dan in karate - former UK Southern Regions Champion and British squad member.

References

External links

• Dom Raab's official website
• Dom Raab's blog
• Raab's channel at YouTube