A Strange Appointment at Justice
Boris Johnson lived to fight another day after surviving a confidence vote in his leadership earlier this week. His close allies tried to argue that this was a convincing commitment by the Conservative party to his premiership but that is difficult to believe when more than 40% of your own side do not think you are fit for the job.
Johnson likely knows this himself and that is why many are predicting a cabinet reshuffle so that he can consolidate power. The Financial Times has reported that while such a move is not immediately imminent, it is certainly a realistic prospect.
A reshuffle would be a good way to bring allies closer into the fold. For Johnson, this is not about diversity of opinion. His cabinet has always been about promoting yes-men (and women) so that power is better concentrated around 10 Downing Street.
That is why the latest appointment to the Ministry of Justice is so surprising. Sir Christopher Bellamy QC will receive a peerage so that he can sit in the House of Lords and replace David Wolfson QC who resigned over the partygate scandal.
While Joshua Rozenberg incorrectly speculated that it would be Martin Howe QC who would get the job, that would have been less of a shock because of Howe’s reputation as the sort of yes-man Boris Johnson would like very much. Howe is extremely anti-EU, wrote in length about the legality of tearing up the Northern Ireland Protocol and would happily tear up the Human Rights Act. In other words he would have fit right in with the cabinet although it is hard to pretend that the failure to appoint him is a loss to critical thinking within government.
Instead Bellamy will be a far less offensive choice but still a surprising one. After all, the QC led an independent review into legal aid that spoke openly about the “weakness” of the current system. The government then ignored the report and this contributed to the current action being taken by the criminal bar as a form of protest.
Now, in a strange turn of events, Bellamy has been appointed to the Ministry of Justice. It is very hard to marry these two facts. How is the new minister supposed to defend the policies of the government that has deliberately ignored his recommendations? It is true that there is much more to the Justice portfolio than legal aid but given Bellamy’s penchant for independent thinking it does feel like he is on a collision course with more senior politicians.
For the time being this is a welcome appointment. It seems unlikely that the former judge will simply nod along at cabinet meetings and his voice will be a valuable addition to any debate. However the real question is how long will this be allowed to last? If the government continues to push forward with agenda items like its overhaul of the Northern Ireland Protocol that could well breach international law, will Bellamy really stand up to defend this or will we soon have another resignation on our hands?
This week in the podcast we took a look at the relationship that public bodies have with costs orders. If they are forced to pay costs while executing their public duty then does this serve as a deterrent for the exercise of that function? Listen and find out.
Episode link: http://uklawweekly.com/2022-uksc-14/
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