At today’s hearing, it was clear that PressBoF and its lawyers would be considering, over lunch, the possibility of asking the Court of Appeal this afternoon for permission to appeal against today’s refusal by the Administrative Court of permission for judicial review. I expected we might have a hearing at about 3.

But that hearing never came.

I spent all afternoon checking with the Civil Appeals Office and with the listing office, to make sure no appeal hearing could possibly take place without my knowledge. I hope I’m learning to be some sort of journalist. By 4.30 this afternoon no papers had been filed by PressBoF, and by 5 o’clock no hearing was listed.

Yet some sort of appeal seems to have been requested on the basis of a paper application. Or at least, an injunction was asked for from the judges of the Court of Appeal. I understand PressBoF told the court they needed time to prepare grounds of appeal and asked the court to grant an interim injunction “administratively” to hold the ring in the meantime. I understand that Lord Dyson, the Master of the Rolls, dealt with that application as follows:

I have considered this request with Moore-Bick and Elias LJJ.  We are not willing to grant interim relief “administratively” pending an application for permission to appeal.

This strikes me as having been a most extraordinary application. It must have been very late for me to have missed all intelligence of it at the Royal Courts of Justice today. I tried hard to make sure nothing escaped me.

But more than its lateness, what astonishes me is its nature. Today’s Administrative Court hearing touched on serious issues of public policy and constitutional propriety; and on the claimant’s side it was said that hundreds of years of historic freedom were at stake. To try for an injunction this morning was entirely legitimate. To go direct to the Court of Appeal this afternoon would have been legitimate, too.

But the attempt, at the very last minute – without a hearing, without any member of the press or public having an opportunity to be present, and without even (it seems) setting out grounds for appealing the refusal of permission for judicial review – to obtain an injunction putting a sudden handbrake on the Privy Council and the Queen, simply on the basis of a paper application: it’s breathtaking. I cannot imagine how PressBoF could have thought such an application might succeed.

2013-10-31T02:07:37+00:00