The government would be very foolish indeed to pick a fight with the judges. It undermines the rule of law. Parliament makes the law and judges interpret it. They are impartial, fair and incorruptible. They do not enter the political arena, nor should they. They are the guardians of our freedoms against an over mighty executive. Remember the super gun case where the government was prepared to let three innocent men go to prison? Parliament didn’t lift a finger. It was the judges that saved them.
The hysterical reaction by the far right about them being out of touch and trying to obstruct the will of the people is incomprehensible. They didn’t issue an unprompted edict that Parliament must trigger Article 50. They tried a case and ruled on the law. That’s what they do. And anyone who has studied law to even GCSE level knows that only Parliament can overturn a law. Parliament is Sovereign. The logical extension of the government’s case is that once a general election is won every manifesto promise can be enacted by a prerogative order. Parliament needn’t be consulted at all. They can all bugger off to the Bahamas for five years. This, of course, is barking mad. It is legislation which would make Mugabe, Putin and Erdogan proud. We British people like our freedom and would fight to the death to avoid a legislative dictatorship.
Judges at Court of Appeal and Supreme Court level are highly trained academics. They are not out of touch. So entrenched is their freedom to operate without fearing pressure from the executive that they can only be removed by an order of both houses. It was almost comical to read the MAIL’s attempt at discrediting the three judges who made the ruling. The Lord Chief Justice is in favour of freedom of the press, upholding the rights of parliament and is impatient with lawyers who waste taxpayer’s money on frivolous applications. His sin was setting up a body to improve EU laws. The bastard.You’d have thought that Dacre would be inviting him over for dinner. Another fellow is a gay which means he must be a Remainer and the third was in Tony Blair’s chambers. Clearly a communist. What a wicked bunch. But there is a serious point here. Why is Liz Truss, the Lord Chancellor, silent on this vile abuse of judges? Her job is to protect them. Oh, of course, sod supporting the rule of law, just be nice to the fruit loops.
But what really troubles me is that Downing Street is not so much lurching to the right as just lurching. There is no deftness of touch. Things are blurted out without a thought for the consequences. Was it deliberation or shooting from the hip that the PM’s spokesman let it be known that May was confident of a successful appeal? Why? On what basis? It’s just to keep the fruit loops happy. Why did her conference speech clearly undermine Mark Carney? And rather than publicly support him Downing Street distanced themselves. It was only when they realised that he might decamp that they panicked and love bombed him. This sort of behaviour is mindbogglingly inept. Why? Because they want to keep the fruit loops happy. But they never will be happy unless they get what they want. Which is everything. May really has to get a grip. This government is giving in to ratchet bonkerdom.
And what about the loose talk about an early general election? Admittedly it does not come from Number 10 but it is gaining traction in the predictable press. Now this is playing with fire. On what basis would the Tories go to the country? Hard Brexit? The cabinet and the party are split on this. And every interviewer will ask the same question of what does it mean. Nobody knows, not even the government. So it would be an election in a vacuum. It is also playing with fire. Most people have forgotten Ted Heath’s 1974 elections. The country was in the grip of the unions and particularly the miners. The basis of going to the country was Who Governs Britain. The electorate concluded that if the government didn’t know then it was time to have another one. May has to get a grip or else the wobbling wheels will fall off.
And what on earth is Mogg up to? This man who is always silkily banging on about the rights of Parliament is now screaming for a thousand new peers to push Brexit through. And Redwood? John may be wrong on most things but he does have a brain the size of a planet. He rebuked the judges for ignoring an election pamphlet. Oh, sod the law. Let’s govern by pamphlet. Fruit loopery which would make a green grocer’s eyes water
