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Hugh Mercer KC has sat as the UK judge at the European Court of Human Rights for little more than a month. But there will be a general election in less than four years’ time and two major political parties are seeking to have Judge Mercer kicked off the court before he completes his nine-year term of office. Does he still think applying for the post was a good career move?

That was one of the questions I asked him last week when we met to record the latest episode of A Lawyer Talks. It was no surprise to find that Mercer thinks the UK should remain signed up to the human rights convention — which celebrates its 75th anniversary tomorrow — but some of his reasons were not what I had expected.

We also discussed a claim in May by nine Council of Europe members, led by Italy and Denmark, that his court’s rulings had made it too difficult for them to deal with what they described as irregular migration. To what extent could the judges take account of the mood among European nations when deciding cases of this sort?

Being the most junior member of the 46-judge court, Mercer was naturally cautious. But as someone who was on the other side of the bench until recently, his response was particularly interesting.

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