Carl Gardner
May 31, 2010
Last week I briefly visited the “Democracy Village” on Parliament Square. My instinctive reaction earlier in the week was to support Boris Johnson and Westminster Council […]
Carl Gardner
May 24, 2010
It’s of fundamental importance that justice should not only be done, but should manifestly and undoubtedly be seen to be done. So said Lord Chief Justice Lord Hewart in 1923, quashing a guilty verdict arrived at by magistrates in private […]
Carl Gardner
May 20, 2010
The coalition’s “Programme for Government” published today contains at least one major surprise. In section 20 of the document relating to justice policy, on page 24, it says
We will extend anonymity in rape cases to defendants.
This is a […]
Carl Gardner
May 19, 2010
At the end of my interview the other day with Charon QC, I spoke briefly about the appointments of the Law Officers – the Attorney General, Dominic Grieve and the Solicitor General, Edward Garnier – and suggested […]
Carl Gardner
May 16, 2010
Charon QC interviewed me on Friday about the new Conservative-Liberal coalition government and its special points of legal interest. We begin with the heated debate about the “55%” rule, under which the coalition proposes this should be a fixed-term Parliament, […]
Carl Gardner
May 13, 2010
A debate has been raging on Twitter and elsewhere about the new coalition’s proposal to legislate to require a 55% Commons majority to dissolve Parliament. Quite a few people are arguing that I and others have got this wrong, and […]
Carl Gardner
May 12, 2010
The new government is only a day old, and already it’s engaging in constitutional whimmery, even though its formation and existence proves the value and robustness of the constitution we have. The coalition agreement (Part 6, page 3) says […]
Carl Gardner
May 11, 2010
As I write, David Cameron is the new Prime Minister forming a government that probably will be a coalition – but we’re not yet sure, quite. I type while watching the BBC’s Newsnight and waiting to hear confirmation that Liberal […]