Lift the nasty, un-British decree on this man

ONE of the lasting legacies of Liz Truss’s miserable political career is the punishment without trial of Graham Phillips, the unlovable video-blogger who operates mainly in Ukraine and Russia. She was in charge of the Foreign Office when it imposed sanctions on him.

If anyone has criminal charges against Mr Phillips, then they should pursue them. If he is then found guilty by a proper court, with a jury and the presumption of innocence, then that will be just and I will not object. But Mr Phillips has been punished without any semblance of a trial. His offence appears to be that he has expressed the wrong opinions about the Holy Sainted Republic of Ukraine. He struggles to get any response out of the Foreign Office to his appeals against his treatment.

The sanctions prevent him from receiving payment for work or from paying bills. So the law forces him to break the law and become an outlaw debtor. And here my praise goes to Islington Borough Council, who had summonsed him for not paying his Council Tax. But when I told them that Mr Phillips was banned by law from paying that tax, they wisely and mercifully withdrew the summons.

Not everybody, I suspect, will be so understanding. Now that the Minister responsible for this unpleasant measure is about to spend much more time with her family, perhaps the Foreign Office, which still has some decent people in it, might think of withdrawing this nasty, arbitrary and un-British decree.