Johnny Mercer with his wife Felicity, his most loyal ally. Photo: Dale Cherry
Every time he leaves the house, Johnny Mercer's middle daughter asks him if he's going to jail. These are, he says, “terrible” times.
The former army captain turned cabinet minister is fighting a war on two fronts: one, a battle for political survival; the other is the fight to protect military informants while keeping himself out of jail. This is a potentially explosive path that takes a terrible toll on him and his family.
“The value of this experience for me is enormous,” Mr. Mercer says in his first interview since a judge threatened him with contempt over a public investigation into alleged killings by special forces in Afghanistan.
“One of my children not only ask me if I'm going to jail every week before I return to Westminster… [but I'm also] trying to start and run a general election campaign in a battleground from scratch with my party trailing in the polls by 20 points.”
To paraphrase Teddy Roosevelt, Mercer, 42, a father of three, says: “My face is really covered in blood, sweat and dust at the moment.”
Plymouth Moor View is the leader of the constituency that Mr Mercer, the veterans affairs minister, won from the Labor Conservatives in 2015 and which he is now struggling to hold on to. Its popularity locally is evident: in less than a decade, its majority has grown from just over 1,000 to almost 13,000.
But in some ways the bigger fight is unfolding over his determination to protect the identities of informants who came to him with their suspicions that rogue units within Special Forces carried out unlawful killings of Afghan civilians in Afghanistan between 2010 and 2013.
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For Mercer, this is a fundamental issue for which he is ready to go to prison. His sources are not suspects, but vulnerable military survivors whom he has assured that their identities will remain protected. They told him of “serious allegations of incidents” involving British Special Forces “which made members of that community feel very uncomfortable.”
In a separate allegation, a Special Forces member told him that he had been asked to carry “discarded weapons” to create the impression that the dead Afghan was armed and therefore a “legitimate target.”
Mr. Mercer is unwilling to go back on his promise to protect them; this is his red line, which he does not want to cross.
He provided written statements to the Afghan inquiry and testified over two days in February 2024, leading to the most uncompromising standoff yet. with Lord Justice Sir Charles Haddon-Cave, one of the country's most senior judges.
Back in March 2024, Lord Justice Haddon Cave served Mercer with an Article 21 notice, forcing him to provide names or face contempt of court. On Tuesday, the inquiry announced that a judge's “final decision” on what to do with Mr. Mercer would have to wait until after the July 4 election.
For several months, Mr. Mercer kept his lawyer: “I have always treated the investigation with respect and until now have said nothing about this process.”
But the anticipation took its toll. He is deeply upset that the investigation, which he insisted would not have taken place if he had not raised his concerns with the Ministry of Defense (MoD), continues to hold the threat of imprisonment over his head.
Johnny Mercer: ''I have always respected this request' Photo: Dale Cherry
At the end of Mercer's oral evidence in February, Lord Justice Haddon-Cave publicly rebuked the minister, warning him that his refusal to name his sources was “wholly unacceptable”. Mr Mercer said the judge risked becoming “part of what is essentially an omerta, a wall of silence, and that wall of silence prevents investigation and access to the truth.”
More than three months on, Mr Mercer, who served three tours in Afghanistan with the British Army, told The Telegraph: “Whistleblowers need to have confidence. You hear again and again of whistleblowers raising their hand to military service and then regretting it.
“There is an important concept here: people should be able to approach me as an elected Member of Parliament and have a reasonable expectation that I will protect their person, and I believe that very strongly. I couldn't reset this country's relationship with its veterans if people didn't trust me and trust me to put their interests before my own.”
He adds, “I won.” I will not give up any of these names.”
He said it would be “a coward’s way out” to reveal the identities of his sources. This would lift a burden off his shoulders in one fell swoop, but only to “put a heavy burden on… these [sources who] are young guys who served their country. It would be completely contrary to the way I have lived my life, it would be contrary to everything I stand for.
“That's what the judge doesn't understand. I call their names, they are persecuted, and in five years they will commit suicide. I'll have to live with this for the rest of my life. To me, that's a burden they shouldn't have to bear.”
Mr Mercer was stunned that the investigation had “fixated on my sources… because I had presented other extremely important evidence.”
He says: “This is where the investigation appears to have lost its way.” ignoring some pretty serious evidence to just focus on putting pressure on me. This is unfortunate.”
“Something very worrying”
He first raised concerns within the MoD in 2017, when “the rumors… crossed the line… and turned into something very worrying.” At the time, he was leading a parliamentary inquiry into the mistreatment of British troops falsely accused of wrongdoing in Iraq and Afghanistan.
This would have led to the end of criminal investigations prompted by false accusations made by Phil Shiner, whose lawyer was subsequently fired for dishonesty. Mr Mercer championed veterans' rights during his nine years in Parliament. But informants warned him that he should be more careful when it came to the activities of some special forces units in Afghanistan.
“This [Afghan] investigation wouldn't be here today without me, so I think it's ironic that they're trying to charge me with contempt of court,” he says. “It just shows me that they don't seem to know the subject they're dealing with or the people they're dealing with.”
He was stung by Oliver Glasgow C.S., a prominent investigative lawyer. , who asked him: “Which side were you on, Mr. Mercer?” in relation either to the troops and any alleged cover-up of their conduct, or to civilians, including women and children, who may have been unlawfully killed.
“I said at the time that it was quite offensive. For those of us who have actually been involved in these operations over the years, who have actually dipped our hands in the blood of women and children trying to save their lives, people like Ollie Glasgow will never understand the offensiveness of it,” he says. .
He admits he “underestimated the personal burden this would place on me”, adding: “I’m a sitting Cabinet minister, but I’ve also spent a career speaking for junior ranks and suddenly I find myself right in the middle of this process. It's not ideal. From a personal point of view, it's not very nice to be on the cover of newspapers where everyone is telling you: “You're going to jail.”
His daughters, aged 15, 10 and three, are deeply concerned. “Every week I come to London and they say, ‘Dad, are you going to prison?’ and I just think there’s no need for that. It's pretty cruel. They are afraid that they will kick me out.”
At some point after July 4, Lord Justice Haddon Cave will decide whether to accept or reject Mr Mercer's application to serve him with a section 21 notice for contempt of court. If it is rejected, the contempt case will be referred to the High Court. If Mercer is charged with contempt of court, he faces up to a year in prison or a large fine.
“If he really believes his position is right, then he should send me to prison,” Mr. Mercer says. “He shouldn’t give me a fine. He must have the courage to stand up for his beliefs. If he's going to jail a cabinet minister for protecting whistleblowers, then he should do it and stop this waiting game.”
The Mercers are currently campaigning for victory in Plymouth Moor View . . The minister is supported by his children and wife Felicity, his staunchest ally and often his outspoken defender on social media.
Ms Mercer, 44, said: “It's been a terrible time because of all the uncertainty. It wasn't easy for the girls. But they understand that there are no other viable options for him.
“He's not going to burn people. He's backed into a corner and this is his only way out. He needs to be able to look in the mirror for the rest of his life. He will accept any punishment.
“The people in Plymouth are comparable to Johnny Mercer. They know that he is an honest man and a man of his word.”
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