Peter Goldsmith, the Attorney General, has made it plain to Tony Blair, the Prime Minister, that he will always put loyalty to Labour before the law. And today in the Sunday Telegraph, he writes the opposite, that he will always put law before loyalty to Labour. He admits that he made the decisions to seek injunctions against the BBC and The Guardian, but claims that he did so at the request of the Metropolitan Police. But, no evidence has so far emerged from Assistant Commissioner Yates' Whine Lodge to support the Attorney General's claim. He claimed that he sought the injunctions for legal reasons, however, I challenged this, as have other top lawyers, and the evidence is that the decisions were taken for political reasons. It is a weakness in our system of democracy which allows for this clash of interests to occur.
Peter Goldsmith claims that he had to balance the freedom of the press against the need to protect the course of justice. However, it is Lord Levy, Ruth Turner and Jonathan Powell who have conspired to pervert the course of justice, and the police who are pursuing this investigation, and the Attorney General who is doing his utmost to shove a spoke in the wheels of justice to try and stop them from turning. Another weakness in our system of democracy is the power of the Attorney General to overrule the decision of the Crown Prosecution Office to prosecute for offences committed. Two recent examples, are where Peter Goldsmith stopped the Serious Fraud Office investigation into BAE Systems and the Al Yamamah programme with Saudi Arabia. Peter Goldsmith has attempted to distance himself from liability for this by claiming that the decision was taken on grounds of national security. Wrong, it was a political decision taken to protect the corrupt business dealings with Saudi Arabia.
Peter Goldsmith attempts to muddy the waters with his false claim that he has to balance competing public interests. However, there are not two sides to this at all there is only one public interest. On the other scale is the Labour Party interest. It is in the public interest to have a free press, and in the due administration of justice. It is false for Peter Goldsmith to claim that he takes an objective view in reaching his decisions, this is because he is too embroiled in the affair and his view must therefore be a subjective one. The role of the Attorney General and the office have become too political. What is missing in Peter Goldsmith's department is accountability to the public. This is harmful to a democracy. Only genuine reform can eradicate this rotten apple from the barrel.
A mixture of law, politics, autobiography and humour. Once described as "The Devilish Advocate" (Guardian), I do have the ability to provoke a response. Sometimes it comes from someone who uses a thought process, and sometimes from jerks usually associated with the knee.
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1 comment:
Attempting to buy a bag of Cox's Orange Pippins once from a stall on Romford Market,I pulled what appeared to be a rotten apple from the top of the box. I then discovered another one underneath so I removed that one and underneath that one there were another two. Underneath those two it transpired there was yet another three, (maybe crushed due to the weight of all the bad material on top of them) and so on until at last I reached the bottom. The bottom of the box was a sticky, oozing, black mess.
Apparently, there were quite a few market stalls with their fruit stored in this same condition. It is becoming harder and harder to purchase good, honest fresh fruit these days....
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