Category: Criminal Law

Partygate returns – and a reminder about how this still matters in constitutional terms

29th March 2022

The ‘Partygate’ problem has come back for both the Prime Minister and those who work(ed) with him in Downing Street.

Perhaps he – and his political and media supporters – had hoped the fog of war in Ukraine would obscure this ongoing political crisis from view.

But: no.

It is here again – and in this latest stage there are fixed penalty notices for a number of Downing Street staff.

These – in effect – fines appear to be just the first round, and it may be that further penalties are issued.

There may even be one issued to the Prime Minister.

Currently Downing Street is maintaining that no rules were broken – even though these fixed penalty notices mean that the Metropolitan Police have reasonably concluded after investigation that offences have been committed.

Perhaps Johnson and his staffers want ‘their day in court’ before they accept any rules were broken.

This is all engrossing political drama – even political soap opera.

So it is important to not overlook why any of this really matters.

It matters for two reasons.

First, it is about legality.

Those in government are not above the law – and certainly not above the coercive restrictions that almost-casually imposed upon the rest of us during lock-down.

(By ‘casually’ I mean that the rules were imposed often without proper parliamentary debate or scrutiny and were often published at the last moment before taking effect.)

Second, it is about accountability.

The Prime Minister expressly told the House of Commons that rules were not broken and that he was unaware of the pandemic of partying in Downing Street.

On the face of it, it looks as if the Prime Minister was lying.

Of course, in the real world, politicians lie all the time.

But, taking such a cynical view at its highest, there should still be some adverse consequence to a Prime Minister misleading the democratic house of parliament.

‘Partygate’ is only incidentally about parties – the triviality of the circumstances co-exist with serious issues of legality and accountability.

And that is why it has not been obscured by the fog of war.

The problem of legality and accountability is still there, and it needs to be addressed.

And until and unless the problem is addressed, the problem will continue to de-stabilise British politics – because it is not really about partying at all.

**

Thank you for reading.

This blog needs your support – for these free-to-read law and policy posts take time and opportunity cost to put together, as do the comments to moderate.

So for more posts – both for the benefit of you and for the benefit of others – please support through the Paypal box above, or become a Patreon subscriber.

***

Comments Policy

This blog enjoys a high standard of comments, many of which are better and more interesting than the posts.

Comments are welcome, but they are pre-moderated and comments will not be published if irksome.

For more on this blog’s Comments Policy see this page.

A balancing exercise in action – Chris Mullin defeats a disclosure request in respect of the Birmingham pub bombings

23rd March 2022

I was born and brought up in the Birmingham of the 1970s, and like many others I had family and family friends who could well have been killed in the Birmingham pub bombings.

There is a powerful public interest in that crime being properly investigated and those guilty being convicted.

Six innocent men were convicted for the bombings, and their prosecution and punishments was an appalling miscarriage of justice, perhaps one of the worst miscarriages of justice in English legal history.

There was a powerful public interest in that miscarriage of justice being exposed and corrected.

And the journalist (and later politician) Chris Mullin was the one who did most to expose and correct that miscarriage of justice.

What happens when two powerful public interests such as the above collide?

That was the issue before the recorder of London at the Old Bailey.

On one hand, those police officers investigating the bombings want access to materials held by Mullin.

You can see why the police would want this – especially if it would contain direct evidence that would aid a successful prosecution.

But that does not necessarily mean the police should get it.

The reason is that the material which Mullin holds was given to him on the basis of confidentiality, so that he could expose the miscarriage of justice.

Without that assurance to his source, Mullin would not have been given that information, and without that information the miscarriage of justice would not have been exposed.

And so the public interest in exposing that miscarriage of justice would have been defeated.

In a detailed and fascinating judgment, the judge shows how the competing – indeed contrasting – public interests in this case should be balanced.

And in a compelling conclusion the judge holds that in this case there should not be an order for disclosure of the material.

It is unfortunate that this means that any prosecution of those guilty of the bombings will not be assisted by this material – but such a prosecution should not be at the cost of undermining the public interest in exposing a miscarriage of justice.

Not only is the judgment compelling, it also is another recent example of a judge taking Article 10 of the ECHR and the right to free expression seriously.

It is a good judgment in a difficult case, and it is recommended reading for anyone interested in practical law and policy.

**

Thank you for reading – these free-to-read law and policy posts take time and opportunity cost to put together, as do the comments to moderate.

So for more posts like this – both for the benefit of you and for the benefit of others – please do support through the Paypal box above, or become a Patreon subscriber.

***

Comments Policy

This blog enjoys a high standard of comments, many of which are better and more interesting than the posts.

Comments are welcome, but they are pre-moderated and comments will not be published if irksome.

For more on this blog’s Comments Policy see this page.

Two reasons why today’s ‘Reclaim these Streets’ high court decision is significant

11th March 2022

The ‘Reclaim these Streets’ decision was handed down by the High Court today.

In a welcome judgment, it was held by the High Court that the Metropolitan Police had acted unlawfully in respect of blanket banning a vigil during lockdown.

The ruling is detailed and thorough, but on the first reading there are two points that seem worth making.

First, the court placed the police decision-making under anxious scrutiny.

This was instead of the court’s usual deference to police decision making – where the long arm of the law is kept at more than arm’s length.

This is refreshing approach instead of the more familiar nodding-along by judges at police conduct.

Second, and just as refreshing, the court took the legal right to freedom of expression  – under Article 10 of the ECHR – seriously.

This was rather than the common lip-service paid by judges – who invariably mention free expression rights only to allow them to be interfered with.

*

This must have been a challenging case to bring, to prepare for and to argue, and so there should be considerable credit for the applicants and their legal team for doing so.

Indeed – in getting the court to overcome its traditional deference to the police and in getting that court to then take free expression rights seriously – it is difficult to imagine a harder such case to fight and to win.

Well done to all who were involved.

https://twitter.com/davidallengreen/status/1502252517631135752

******

Comments Policy

This blog enjoys a high standard of comments, many of which are better and more interesting than the posts.

Comments are welcome, but they are pre-moderated and comments will not be published if irksome.

The United Kingdom government is rushing through anti-oligarch legislation without proper scrutiny

7th March 2022

Imagine a serious piece of proposed legislation, for serious times.

Imagine that legislation is substantial – a Bill of 64 pages.

Imagine that legislation is complex – 55 clauses and 5 schedules (the latter comprising 11 parts).

Imagine that legislation is coercive – creating at least 12 new criminal offences.

Imagine that legislation confers wide executive powers – with 20 “may by regulations” provisions for Secretary of State to legislate by fiat, including in respect of individual rights.

And now…

…imagine that proposed legislation being forced through all its stages in the House of Commons in a single day.

What could possibly go wrong?

Well.

We will now find out, for this is what is happening today with the Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Bill.

This significant legislation is being rushed through with almost no opportunity for adequate scrutiny by Members of Parliament – just so the government can be seen be doing something about Oligarchs.

This is not how fundamental legislation should be put in place.

 

*****

Thank you for reading – these free-to-read law and policy posts take time and opportunity cost to put together.

So for more posts like this – both for the benefit of you and for the benefit of others – please do support through the Paypal box above, or become a Patreon subscriber.

*****

You can also have each post sent by email by filling in the box above (on an internet browser) or on a pulldown list (on mobile).

******

Comments Policy

This blog enjoys a high standard of comments, many of which are better and more interesting than the posts.

Comments are welcome, but they are pre-moderated and comments will not be published if irksome.

Thinking about “sanctions”

22nd February 2022

Let’s consider the word ‘sanctions’.

The word is in the news because of Russian imperialist aggression against Ukraine.

(And yes, what Russia is doing is imperialism – the notion that only the English can be imperialistic is just another way of being Anglocentric.)

*

One common response to this aggression is to demand ‘sanctions’.

A demand, in effect, that ‘something must be done’.

Those demanding sanctions may not have any clear idea – or, indeed, any idea -as to what should be done as a sanction or what effect it may have.

It is enough, for them, that they are demanding ‘sanctions’ – almost as a form of political therapy.

A thing to call for, instead of admitting that there is little or nothing that can actually be done – at least short of a military (mis)adventure which would, in turn, likely be a fiasco.

*

In reality, ‘sanctions’ rarely work.

They are the Yellow Cards of international affairs.

And, as in football, such Yellow Cards rarely deter – still less eliminate – foul play.

They are instead little more than a cost of business.

In practice – and I have advised as a lawyer on sanctions – they are usually business inconveniences and irritants that can be addressed and navigated.

There are many creative and ingenious ways with which a ‘sanction’ may be complied with.

Any sanction that would actually have the desired political effect would adversely affect the sanctioning state as well as the sanctioned state.

And this is because of the nature of sanctions in an economically interdependent world.

Unilateral commercial relationships are rare and so – almost by defintion – an economic sanction will have domestic effects as well as on the sanctioned adversary.

And so it unlikely that the United Kingdom would sanction Russia in a way that would significantly disrupt the flows of Russian money into London.

But.

Serious sanctions can be done – as Germany has impressively shown today with reconsidering Nord Stream 2 – although perhaps this is not a ‘sanction’ as such but a fundamental (and sensible) reconsideration of energy policy and strategy.

And that will hurt Germany – yet they are willing to take the hit.

The United Kingdom has instead merely talked the talk of tough sanctions – and so today’s announcement of a ‘package’ was unimpressive.

It is always easier to talk tough sanctions than, well, convert that tough talk into meaningful sanctions.

*

One response to such scepticism about ‘sanctions’ is to ask: what else can be done?

Some even resort to saying ‘sanctions’ would have ‘symbolic’ importance.

But this is akin to ‘enshrining in law’ nonsense.

What can be done is to be wary of this form of magical thinking.

To realise that we risk misleading and bewitching ourselves.

To realise that sanctions, as with legal prohibitions, are not magical spells.

And to accept the stark hard truth that – unless we place ourselves at a severe disadvantage, or risk military (mis)adventure – there is little or nothing that can be done.

To admit to our own political impotence.

We may as well ‘tut’.

But.

Because we do not want to do that, we will blithely demand ‘sanctions’ instead.

For something must be done.

******

Comments Policy

This blog enjoys a high standard of comments, many of which are better and more interesting than the posts.

Comments are welcome, but they are pre-moderated and comments will not be published if irksome.

 

 

 

 

 

Perversion of the course of public business – today’s clumsy Met intervention in Partygate

28 January 2022

Sometimes things are not straightforward.

And sometimes things just become more complicated.

Today was one of those times.

This morning the Metropolitan Police took it upon themselves to request that the Sue Gray report only makes “minimal reference” to matters in respect of which the police are investigating.

The effect of this intervention may be that the report is published without detail of the more damaging aspects of the Downing Street partying.

This truncated/redacted report may even “clear” the Prime Minister – at least according to his political and media supporters.

There would also be the prospect of the police investigation taking no further action, with the damaging details never being made public.

This is probably more an accident than a design – but the effect is likely to be to potentially cloak the more damaging detail from parliamentary and public view.

*

It is difficult to understand the Metropolitan police position.

As breaches of the (obviously relevant) Covid rules are summary only then there is no risk of prejudicing a jury trial.

Perhaps they want to disclose information in their own way in any interviews with suspects – but such investigatory convenience should not be an absolute check.

The world should not be organised entirely for the benefit of the police – especially when they have been tardy.

Perhaps there are more serious offences afoot – the alleged direction that “mobiles should be cleaned” could, depending on circumstances, be perversion of the course of justice – and some are saying (with hope more than expectation) that there may even be grounds for charges for misconduct in public office.

But what makes the police position preposterous is that they delayed investigating at all until the Gray inquiry did the police’s job for them.

And now the police have belatedly decided to do their job, they now wish to interfere with the normal course of public business.

*

All this continues to undermine political transparency and parliamentary accountability.

Inquires and investigations often take matters away from the floor of the House of Commons or the press conference, and ministers and their supporters get a rhetorical (and sometimes legal) basis for not answering questions.

“We need to wait for…”

And politicians don’t need much excuse to not answer questions.

*

The Metropolitan Police have, of course, an interest in this matter.

The parties took place bang in the middle of no doubt the most heavily policed area of the UK – Whitehall.

And the parties took place while the police were freely handing out huge fines to those breaking Covid rules elsewhere.

*

Had the Metropolitan Police investigated this matter properly when it should have done – and there can be no evidence before Sue Gray and her team which is not capable of being ascertained by the Police with their greater investigative powers – then the police would not now be disrupting the publication of a report.

And there is perhaps a lesson here for those who clamour for police investigations of politicians and their circles: be careful what you wish for.

Police investigations do not always go in accordance with wishful thinking.

Sometimes police investigations can pervert the course of public business.

*****

Thank you for reading – these free-to-read law and policy posts take time and opportunity cost to put together.

So for more posts like this – both for the benefit of you and for the benefit of others – please do support through the Paypal box above, or become a Patreon subscriber.

*****

You can also have each post sent by email by filling in the box above (on an internet browser) or on a pulldown list (on mobile).

******

Comments Policy

This blog enjoys a high standard of comments, many of which are better and more interesting than the posts.

Comments are welcome, but they are pre-moderated and comments will not be published if irksome.

Two things about the launch of the Met’s Downing Street investigation

25th January 2022

Well.

Downing Street is now bing investigated by the Metropolitan Police.

And we are told that the Sue Gray report will not be ‘paused’ – and that it may even be delivered to the Prime Minister this evening, with it being published tomorrow.

What can be usefully said about this?

Perhaps two things.

First, look (again) at the Terms of Reference – that is the best corrective to getting carried away with what the report may or may not include.

In particular note that it is structured as a fact-finding exercise.

Indeed, had Gray been tasked with apportioning culpability then there may have been reason for the report to be delayed pending the police investigation.

What Downing Street gained by making it a fact-finding exercise they lost by not having a plausible excuse for it to be delayed at this stage.

And second, note that the Terms of Reference say:

“As with all internal investigations, if during the course of the work any evidence emerges of behaviour that is potentially a criminal offence, the matter will be referred to the police and the Cabinet Office’s work may be paused. Matters relating to adherence to the law are properly for the police to investigate and the Cabinet Office will liaise with them as appropriate.”

This probably means that a government lawyer has had to advise on whether the threshold has been met for evidence to be referred to the police.

And – if so – this means that on that advice, Sue Gray has been satisfied that evidence does need to be referred.

In essence: for this evidence to be referred a government lawyer and a senior official have already had to be satisfied of its seriousness.

And, in commencing an investigation, the police concur.

This does not mean that anyone is necessarily guilty.

Suspicion does not mean guilt.

But.

The evidence uncovered is so serious that a certain threshold has been met.

Brace brace.

******

Comments Policy

This blog enjoys a high standard of comments, many of which are better and more interesting than the posts.

Comments are welcome, but they are pre-moderated and comments will not be published if irksome.

The Colston Four and the problem (and challenge) of legal commentary – in praise of Secret Barrister and Matthew Scott

10th January 2022

The acquittal of the Colston Four became a significant political issue – so significant that former ministers and government supporters even got to the point of dissing juries altogether.

But where was the best legal commentary – to explain what did (and did not) happen?

On state broadcasters?

On news sites?

No.

It was on social media – in particular, two blogposts done by barristers in their spare time.

One was this explanatory post by the Secret Barrister.

The other was on the blog of Matthew Scott: the actual directions to the jury.

Neither of these barristers had to do this – they volunteered to put this information into the public domain.

Neither of the bloggers did anything that could not be done by a well-resourced legal correspondent at a mainstream news site.

But there are very few legal correspondents anywhere in mainsteam media, and they would not have the time (or the editorial freedom) to provide such information for free to anyone on the internet.

The Secret Barrister and Matthew Scott provide not only an important public service but also fill a gap in what should (and is not) being provided to the public generally by news sites.

We are lucky to have them – and, given the ever-starker limitations on news budgets – we must cherish this volunteerism by legal professionals.

But what happens when such volunteerism comes to an end, for it is no longer viable for legal professionals?

Well.

******

Comments Policy

This blog enjoys a high standard of comments, many of which are better and more interesting than the posts.

Comments are welcome, but they are pre-moderated and comments will not be published if irksome.

 

The Rule of Law and the Colston Four – and why a jury acquittal shows a legal system working and not being undermined

 

The Colston Four defendants have been acquitted by a jury.

Some are contending, like this former cabinet minister, that this acquittal ‘undermines the rule of law’.

That contention is incorrect.

An acquittal is as much an aspect of the rule of law as a conviction.

Criminal courts can acquit as well as convict – both can be the outcomes of the application of due process in a particular case.

The Colston Four were acquitted by a jury – and the defendants did not deny the essential facts.

It can be open to a jury to do this – and this informative Guardian article sets out many other examples.

A jury returning a verdict that they are entitled to return is an example of the law in action, and not of a legal process undermined.

This is not to say that juries are perfect – indeed, many of the greatest miscarriages of justice have come from jury verdicts.

Juries do not always get things right.

But the constitutional importance of juries is not so much for the decisions they make, but for the decisions they take away from others.

The State may arrest, charge and prosecute a person – but they cannot convict and punish a defendant pleading ‘not guilty’ to a serious offence without a jury trial.

The implication of the former cabinet minister’s view quoted above is that it should not be open to a jury to acquit a person prosecuted for a serious offence – but only to convict and punish.

But that is not the ‘rule of law’ – it is something darker and nastier instead.

Others are fretting that the verdict creates a ‘precedent’.

It, of course, does not create any legal precedent – no jury can bind another jury, and each jury should look at the case before them on its own evidence.

Nor does it create any practical precedent – or, at least, not one which has any more force than the many previous examples set out in the Guardian article.

The real upset is that a court heard the evidence and acquitted the defendants.

This is what juries sometimes do – and they can do this because they are outwith the control of the prosecuting State.

One half-expects that this weekend’s press will see ‘government sources’ urging ‘a crackdown’ on ‘perverse’ acquittals – with a proposal for ministers to have a ‘fast track’ on imposing convictions.

And this is not to put an idea into the heads of government ministers – the idea is no doubt already there.

One irony – if that is the correct word – is that this very government sought to use primary legislation to enable ministers to break the law.

That proposal – over which the Advocate General and the Treasury Solicitor resigned (and the recently knighted former Lord Chancellor did not) – did more to undermine the rule of law than any verdict of a Bristol jury.

And the current hyper-partisanship of modern politics means that if, say, a group of fox hunters were acquitted by some shire county jury, the same people who are jeering the Bristol jury would be cheering the shire county jury instead.

But juries are juries – they make mistakes, but they are independent of State prosecutors.

And the noise of government supporters unhappy with a jury decision is the sweet sound of a working constitution.

*****

Thank you for reading – and now please help this daily law and policy blog survive.

It needs your help to continue for another year – for the benefit of you and other readers – there is no paid subscription model.

Each free-to-read post takes time and opportunity cost.

This law and policy blog provides a daily post commenting on and contextualising topical law and policy matters.

If you value this free-to-read and independent legal and policy commentary – both for the you and for the benefit of others – please do support through the Paypal box above, or become a Patreon subscriber.

*****

You can also have each post sent by email by filling in the box above (on an internet browser) or on a pulldown list (on mobile).

******

Comments Policy

This blog enjoys a high standard of comments, many of which are better and more interesting than the posts.

Comments are welcome, but they are pre-moderated and comments will not be published if irksome.

The boon of published sentencing remarks

15th December 2021

One good thing for the public understanding of the law that has come from the internet is the publication of ‘Sentencing Remarks’.

These are not judgments – at least in a legally technical sense – but explanations by a judge about how they gone around setting the sentence of someone guilty of an offence.

Today there are two sets of sentencing remarks about highly unpleasant and disturbing cases (both of must have a content warning).

Some may want to read them for their grisly detail.

However the rest of us – especially students of law and others with an interest in the legal system – will be able to gain fascinating and detailed insights into investigations, prosecutions and sentencing.

In the olden days, these remarks were never normally available – one would have to rely on any news reporters in court, and one would then have to depend upon on the edited (and editorialised) news reports.

Now, you can read the judge’s words for yourself – and form your own view.

You may still think after reading remarks that a sentence is too low or too high – but you will at least be able to inform your view with how the sentence has been arrived at.

The best way to keep up is to follow the England and Wales judiciary’s Twitter account or to visit their site from time to time.

The regular publication of these remarks will not, by themselves, cure the promotion of misinformation about law generally and high-profile cases in particular.

But the more they become part of the normal information openly available about cases and the criminal law in the news, the better the general knowledge of the criminal justice system.

They are a boon to the public understanding of law.

******

Comments Policy

This blog enjoys a high standard of comments, many of which are better and more interesting than the posts.

Comments are welcome, but they are pre-moderated.

Comments will not be published if irksome.