were publicly queried in the House of Commons, and a Labour backbencher Jack Jones started a debate on the subject in the afternoon. W. C. Bridgeman, the Home Secretary, said that he had directly ordered the police to arrest the ISDL members under the Restoration of Order in Ireland Act 1920, and that he had consulted the Attorney General who considered it perfectly legal. Hastings immediately stood and protested, saying that the Act was "one of the most dreadful things that has been done in the history of our country" and that the internments and deportations were effectively illegal. A few days later, the solicitors for O'Brien got in contact with Hastings. On 23 March 1923 he appeared in R v Secretary of State for Home Affairs ex parte O'Brien [1923] 2 KB 361 at a Divisional Court consisting of Mr Justice Avory and Mr Justice Salter to apply for a writ of habeas corpus for O'Brien as a test case to allow the release of the others. The initial hearing was ineffective because Hastings was unable to provide an affidavit from O'Brien, which was required for a writ of habeas corpus to be considered, but by the time the hearing was resumed on 10 April he had managed to obtain one. Hastings argued that because the Irish Free State was an independent nation the British laws governing it, such as the 1920 Act, were effectively repealed. The court eventually declared that they could not issue a writ, because the Habeas Corpus Act 1862 prevented them from issuing a writ to any colony possessing a court which could also issue a writ. Since Ireland possessed such a court, the English Divisional Court could not act. Hastings attempted to argue that the writ could be issued against the Home Secretary but this also failed, since the Home Secretary did not actually possess O'Brien. Three days later, Hastings took the case to the Court of Appeal, who declared that the internment orders were invalid since the Restoration of Order Act was no longer applicable. The Government was forced to introduce a Bill to Parliament giving itself retrospective immunity for having exceeded its authority, and the whole incident was a political and legal triumph for the party and for Hastings personally. Attorney-General When the new Parliament opened in 1923, the Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin suggested that tariff reform was the best way to