Well it has been an interesting few days. Who would have thought
that the outcome of the election would have been a hung parliament and deals
done with the DUP to shore up a minority Tory government?
But there was one thing that was widely predicted. This was
the removal of Liz Truss as Justice Secretary. Her days were clearly numbered
after a number of gaffes, not least being her failure to robustly defend the
judiciary following the Brexit decision and the Daily Mail’s infamous ‘Enemies
of the State’ headline. This resulted in a withering attack from the Lord Chief
Justice –
This has also led to calls for any replacement to be a
lawyer.
Today we hear that she has been sacked by Theresa May. It
was with some excitement that many of us waited to find out about her replacement.
And it is ….. David Lidington. Who?
Well he is the Honourable Member for Aylesbury, Bucks. He
was Minister of State for Europe until 2016.
He has been leader of the House for a year. His other claim to fame is about expenses. According to the the Telegraph he submitted claims in 2016 for cleaning, L'Oriel moisturisers, body spray and Sensodyne toothpaste!
But above all, he is not a lawyer!
He is no fan of Human Rights and is known to favour
abolition of the Human Rights Act. To be honest these come as no surprise. It is well known that Theresa May is hostile to the HRA.
But the appointment of a fourth successive non lawyer Lord
Chancellor is a major disappointment. You would have thought that the
disastrous experiment of Grayling, Gove and Truss would have taught the
government something. Of course, it is not compulsory for the Secretary of
State to have relevant qualifications. You would not expect all Health Minsters
to be Doctors or Transport Ministers to be Highways Engineers. But the Justice
role is different. It is not a purely political appointment. The Justice Minister
carries a huge constitutional responsibility as Lord Chancellor.
The Constitutional Reform Act 2005 requires him/her to swear
the following –
"I, , do swear that in
the office of Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain I will respect the
rule of law, defend the independence of the judiciary and discharge my duty to
ensure the provision of resources for the efficient and effective support of
the courts for which I am responsible. So help me God."
Will Mr Lidington understand
this? Will he ‘defend the independence’ of judges even if this means upsetting
the right wing tabloid press? Will he appreciate the importance of ‘justice’ as
something more than a commodity? He might surprise us (!) but this is a lost
opportunity to give back some credibility to an important position, which has now seen three incumbents in two years!
Time will tell what Mr
Lidington will make of the pressures from the insurance industry to press on
with attacks on the rights of accident victims.
Of course, that time might be
short!
Who knows who will be at the
helm in October 2018?
*Thanks to my friend Mike Williamson (Williamsons Solicitors) for this link
*Thanks to my friend Mike Williamson (Williamsons Solicitors) for this link
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