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26 July 2007 / Michael Zander KC
Issue: 7283 / Categories: Features , Profession
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Botched job

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Why was the creation of the Ministry of Justice railroaded through? asks Professor Michael Zander QC

The establishment of the Ministry of Justice was another botched job reminiscent of the shambles over the attempt in 2003 to abolish the office of lord chancellor. That both the lord chief justice, Lord Phillips, and the lord chancellor, Lord Falconer, say that they first learnt of the plan from an article in The Sunday Telegraph (21 January 2007) is startling. That the new ministry opened for business before fundamental constitutional issues between the judiciary and the executive had been sorted out is an outright scandal.

It seems that the project was the brainchild of John Reid, who wanted to get rid of the Home Office’s most vexing responsibility—prisons and probation. As Lord Phillips, in his evidence to the Commons Constitutional Affairs Committee, said:

“The impetus for the decision was an anxiety on the part of the Home Secretary to clear the decks so that he could really make a concerted attack on terrorism. It was not a

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