The new government is only a day old, and already it’s engaging in constitutional whimmery, even though its formation and existence proves the value and robustness of the constitution we have. The coalition agreement (Part 6, page 3) says […]

As I write, David Cameron is the new Prime Minister forming a government that probably will be a coalition – but we’re not yet sure, quite. I type while watching the BBC’s Newsnight and waiting to hear confirmation that Liberal […]

I agree with the point David Cameron makes about hung Parliaments and coalition politics: the problem with them, and the proportional representation that would all but require them, is that they result in politicians, not the voters, deciding who […]

Charon QC interviewed me this afternoon as part of his “20 minutes” series of podcasts. First we spoke about arresting the Pope following my post earlier today. The we moved on briefly to discuss the former UKIP MEP Ashley […]

Following my post on the “legal bits” of the Labour manifesto, here’s my analysis of the most important Conservative proposals of particular legal interest. I warn you: this is a long one, and needs sub-headings.

Constitutional law

On the constitution, the Tories […]

I was interested in a debate yesterday kicked off by Jessica Asato, writing at Left Foot Forward about the way Conservative opposition led to the government’s dropping provisions in the Children, Schools and Families Bill about personal, social […]

The DCMS minister Sion Simon has been speaking for the government in the Commons this afternoon, and is in an embarrassing situation: it appears that government lawyers have advised that the Video Recordings Act 1984 should have been notified to […]

Another week, another Binyam Mohamed judgment. This time, Thomas LJ and Lloyd-Jones J have decided to restore to their previous judgment the passages they redacted out at the request of the Foreign Secretary, who claims they’d endanger national […]

Following on from my Charon podcast yesterday, I thought it might help to put my thoughts in writing about last Friday’s judgment. It might be farcical, except that it relates to the cruel treatment and possibly torture of a prisoner. […]

I spoke to Charon QC this afternoon about last Friday’s judgment in R (Mohamed) v Foreign Secretary, in which the Administrative Court ruled that it should make public in its original judgment 7 paragraphs, consisting of 25 […]