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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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, […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]