SIR Keir Starmer pioneered legal claims which paved the way for a witch hunt against British troops in Iraq, his Attorney General said.

Lord Hermer hailed the Prime Minister’s role in establishing case law that opened the floodgates for hundreds of claims brought by Iraqis against the Ministry of Defence.

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Sir Keir Starmer ‘pioneered legal claims which paved the way for a witch hunt against British troops in Iraq’ Credit: AP

The claim was made by Lord Hermer, who is the current Attorney General Credit: Getty Images

He wrote in a 40-page witness statement about how Sir Keir worked on two key legal claims.

They established that human rights laws in the UK should also apply in Iraq.

Lord Hermer, the current Attorney General, laid out the PM’s role as he defended another human rights solicitor facing a disciplinary tribunal in 2016.

He claimed one case that he worked on with Sir Keir established a landmark ruling that the European Convention on Human Rights “was capable in certain circumstances of extending to southern Iraq”.

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Furious critics have accused the PM of bringing landmark cases that helped spark a witch hunt against British soldiers serving in Iraq.

The cases were previously blamed for giving Iraqis the green light to sue the British government for false imprisonment and mistreatment.

Thousands of false claims were brought by disgraced solicitor Phil Shiner.

Shiner instructed Sir Keir in one of the cases and was later struck off for dishonesty.