Whatever the intentions of politicians and commentators, this general election is destined to be the narrowest of single-issue campaigns. Brexit will push other issues such as justice to the fringes of debate and those important but perhaps technical issues that typically struggle for airspace (eg, legal aid) won’t have a look in.
‘Too often we have seen what might be called “policy by press notice” without any clear or coherent vision for the future of the prison system,’ chided Bob Neill, chair of the House of Commons’ justice committee earlier this month. The barrister and Tory MP was introducing the group’s latest report into the ‘crisis of safety and decency’ (their words) in our prisons and obviously had his boss, Boris Johnson in his sights.
When you are not only PM but a columnist in a national newspaper that appears to have debased itself to the point that it is little
