NLJ this week: Khalife on the run, Chalk at the dispatch box

But some people may have felt a sense of deja-vu. In this week’s NLJ, columnist and former director of Justice, Roger Smith recalls some earlier escapologists as he looks at the issue of political accountability.

Smith writes: ‘The constitutional and political point is that no home or justice secretaries were fatally injured in these escapes. All they faced was a bit of embarrassment.’ And a severe grilling on national TV in one memorable instance.

Smith examines the wider picture, that of the UK constitution, the role of the lord chancellor and the need for reform.