Excerpt:
The laborious process of finding someone to oversee the country’s terror laws is finally under way, not that the public would notice the post is vacant. The job goes under the official title of the independent reviewer of terrorism legislation and was until recently occupied by Max Hill, QC, who is now the director of public prosecutions.
Hill was in the job for a mere 18 months. In his short tenure he provoked controversy by urging the government to consider abolishing all anti-terror laws, saying they are “unnecessary” in the fight against extremism. He argued Britain should have faith in its legal structures, rather than trying to create a new situation where the ordinary rules no longer apply. He also sounded a warning over proposed legislation in the Counter-Terrorism and Border Security Bill, arguing that criminalising the viewing of terrorist material three times or more lacked sufficient safeguards — to little apparent effect.