Martin Howe
 Martin Howe KC    (barrister) | |
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| Founder of | Lawyers for Britain |
Martin Howe KC, a partner at Howe & Co, is a leading barrister in the fields of intellectual property and EU law. He was called to the bar in 1978 and became a QC in 1996.
Martin Howe has campaigned in favour of Brexit for many years, and is Chairman of Lawyers for Britain, which was founded to campaign for a 'Leave' vote in the EU Referendum.[1]
Brexit campaigner
From March 2017 ("The 'meaningful vote' amendment is an abuse of House of Lords powers – and legislative garbage to boot") to January 2020 ("After all the Remainer legal chicanery, I’ll be closely monitoring the next stage of talks with Brussels"), Martin Howe published 27 articles calling for the UK to leave the European Union.[2]
Jeremy Corbyn's legal bill
On 26 September 2022, Mr Justice Nicklin approved a consent order recording the settlement of the libel action brought by UKLFI's Richard Millett against Jeremy Corbyn MP arising out of statement made by Mr Corbyn during an interview on "The Andrew Marr Show" on 23 Sept 2018.[3]
The claim has been discontinued with no order as to costs. The trial of the action had been due to begin on Monday 10 October 2022 before the same judge and was scheduled for 3 weeks.
Mark Henderson acted for Mr Corbyn, instructed by Martin Howe of Howe & Co, throughout the proceedings. The parties released the following statement:
- “The libel claim brought by Richard Millett against the Rt Hon Jeremy Corbyn MP has been settled. Mr Corbyn has paid no damages, has made no apology and has given no undertakings concerning repetition of the words complained of.
- "No costs have been paid by either party to the other as part of this settlement save in respect of an outstanding Order of the Court of Appeal from April 2021.
- "Neither party will be making any other comment about the case.”[4]
Lawfare
The dropping of the libel case left Jeremy Corbyn with Martin Howe's legal bill of £1,477,000. Many small donations to JBC Defence Ltd and subsequent negotiations helped pay a large part of this but, today, Corbyn is left with an outstanding bill of £400,000.
On the "Not the Andrew Marr Show" of 25 May 2023, Crispin Flintoff discussed Jeremy Corbyn's case with Yanis Varoufakis, legal adviser and former parliamentary candidate Pamela Fitzpatrick and human rights specialist Sir Geoffrey Bindman KC showing how lawfare continues to be used to silence radical voices.[5]
References
- ↑ "Brexiteer QC claims Britons will save many BILLIONS of pounds if no deal Brexit succeeds"
- ↑ "Martin Howe QC BrexitCentral Contributor"
- ↑ "Transcript of The Andrew Marr Show, 23 September 2018, Jeremy Corbyn MP"
- ↑ "Richard Millett Discontinues Libel Action Against Jeremy Corbyn MP"
- ↑ "Lawfare and Corbyn's massive legal bill"
