The modest liberalism of the Human Rights Act has made it a depressingly easy target for politicians, laments Conor Gearty
An odd feature of the Human Rights Act (HRA) has been its deep unpopularity among politicians. Even before it was brought it into force (in October 2000, nearly two years after Royal Assent), New Labour had begun to disown it, dissatisfied even then with its likely solicitude towards the kind of marginal communities (such as prisoners, criminals, suspected terrorists and travellers) that its advisers were probably already telling it to get tough on.
