Liz Truss has hired Asserson Law, a firm with its largest office in Tel Aviv, to issue a cease and desist letter to Keir Starmer, urging him to refrain from stating that she "crashed the economy."
The letter, sent to the prime minister by Asserson’s legal team, accuses Starmer of making "false and misleading" statements by claiming that Truss caused economic turmoil during her brief premiership. The firm argues that such remarks are defamatory.
Asserson Law, established by British lawyer Trevor Asserson, is headquartered in central London but operates its largest office out of the Azrieli Center in Tel Aviv’s business district. The firm primarily offers services under English law and is often involved in international legal disputes.
According to the letter, Truss’s legal team expressed concern over Starmer’s public remarks leading up to the UK general election in May 2024. It claims that the statements unfairly influenced public perception, potentially affecting Truss’s electoral prospects during the July 2024 election, in which she lost her South West Norfolk seat.
When asked about the legal warning, a Downing Street spokesperson responded that Starmer had no intention of softening his criticism of Truss’s economic policies.
Founded in 2005, Asserson Law initially operated as an offshore provider of English legal services but has since evolved into a full-service law firm ranked by Legal 500. The firm now offers expertise in dispute resolution, real estate, corporate law, finance, and commercial matters under both English and U.S. legal frameworks.
Trevor Asserson, the firm’s senior partner, resides in Jerusalem with his family. Beyond his legal practice, he has been active in public advocacy, particularly regarding media coverage of the Middle East. He founded BBC Watch, an organization dedicated to analyzing the BBC’s reporting on the region.
In 2024, Asserson released a report scrutinizing the BBC’s coverage of the Gaza conflict. The 199-page document, produced in collaboration with Israeli data scientists using AI tools, alleged that the broadcaster had violated impartiality standards by exhibiting bias against Israel. While some praised the report, others questioned Asserson’s objectivity, citing his longstanding criticism of the BBC.
The cease and desist letter references Starmer’s statements made in June 2024, asserting that he knowingly spread inaccurate claims during a critical period in the election campaign. Asserson’s lawyers argue that economic fluctuations under Truss’s government in late 2022 do not qualify as an economic "crash" and that portraying them as such is misleading. Photo by Policy Exchange, Wikimedia commons.