Toby on Tuesday

'The Bloodless Revolution' 

 

 

 

 

Until last week, probably the most unpopular judge in legal history was George Jeffreys, Lord Chancellor from 1685-88 under King James II.   An alcoholic, which he attributed to kidney disease, he was notorious for keeping brandy in his inkwell and then drinking it through his quill pen while passing sentence.   But we in Britain have always had a healthy scepticism about our judiciary.   And a few weeks ago I wrote about a bizarre evening spent sitting next to the wife of a prominent pro-Remain London High Court judge at a dinner.   She berated me for being a UKIPper, she berated “Northern white trash” for voting Leave, she asked those who were there if the younger members of our families had voted Leave and, when we all replied ‘yes’, she declared, “You’re all so complacent, you Yorkshire people, it’s horrific!”   And she moaned that her son’s hopes of getting a job with Goldman Sachs were now in ruins.   I almost said that the best thing her son could do if he wanted a useful and productive life would be to come and start a business in Yorkshire, but didn’t really want to risk another outburst.  But the truth is that most High Court judges have risen up under the Blair, Brown, Clegg, Cameron dispensation, for which devotion to the EU was an essential qualification, and we can only be thankful that their era is now passed.

 

But today I don’t want to write about the Article 50 case itself, but rather about how the judges’ supporters complained when their decision was subjected to perfectly proper public comment.   For if our judges want to behave like politicians, they mustn’t object when they are consequently subjected to the rough language of politics.   Strong words are the weapons of political life and, if they choose to play the game, then they cannot be immune to robust criticism.   Vigorous debate is central to Britain’s political tradition, which could be why they don’t like it.   Of course the strongest language of all was reserved for Judge Jeffreys, the “Hanging Judge”, notorious for his Bloody Assizes after the Monmouth Rebellion.   The last time before we joined the EU when a British government tried to hand power over to a foreign authority was under King James II.   Following the Battle of Sedgemoor he sent Jeffreys down to Taunton to deal with the rebels, the UKIPpers of their day.   There he found a total of 1,381 of those charged guilty of treason.   Of these some 170 were executed, beginning with Dame Alice Lisle, the last woman in England to have been executed by judicial sentence.  Jeffreys’ black cap, his sarcastic outbursts and his quill pen loaded with brandy entered the annals of judicial infamy.  And the public outcry was so great that in 1688 there followed the Glorious or Bloodless Revolution, the Brexit vote of its time, when James II was bundled off to France, never to return.   As for Jeffreys, he ended up in the Tower of London where he died the following year.  

 

So our High Court judges shouldn’t be surprised that, when they behave like politicians, they are treated like politicians and they should be reminded that strong words hurt nobody.   But what is clear from the whole Article 50 case is that there is serious trouble ahead for Theresa May both in the House of Commons and, more especially, in the House of Lords, groaning as it is with hysterical Remainers from all parties and none.   And if next month’s appeal to the Supreme Court doesn’t succeed, as it may well not, I would be very tempted in Theresa May’s position, to call the Remainers’ bluff, announce a General Election and, as part of her manifesto, to go not only for Brexit but also for a full and thorough reform of the House of Lords.   It is obvious that the so-called Upper House will use every tactic to delay and neutralise Brexit.   The Cameron/Clegg Fixed-Term Parliament Act is an obstacle, but one which may just have to be overcome.   In this way, as well as achieving Brexit, all the flotsam and jetsam of the Blair years can finally be removed from the political stage and the detritus of that failed era, the years of Blair and Heirs-to-Blair, finally consigned to history!

 

Until next Tuesday!

 

Toby