Goldsmith steps down days before Brown becomes PM
Dear God, it's like the equivalent of a clear out sale at Number Ten.
We all knew Blair was going and that Prescott would, likewise, have to walk the plank; but then John Reid announced that he too was leaving, I presume because having been such a Blair loyalist that he would find it impossible to work under Gordon Brown.
And then suddenly last night the announcement that the Attorney General is also handing in his post. If I was Brown I'd want a surveyor to check the building for subsidence, as that's an awful lot of people suddenly saying, "I'm off!"
However, as Goldsmith heads back to the lucrative bar he gave up in order to serve under Blair, he does so as the most controversial Attorney General that has served in my lifetime.
His surprise announcement, released just before 9.30 last night, ends a six-year career dogged by controversy.
The story of Goldsmith's time served as Attorney General will no doubt be the subject of many books in future years, when we all hope to find out the truth about just what happened before the Iraq war. Why did the Attorney General change his mind regarding the legality of the conflict without a second resolution? Who leant on him? The US? Tony himself?In 2003 he drew fierce criticism for his apparent change of mind over the legality of the war on Iraq, giving the impression that he had been leaned on by the US and Number 10. He issued a terse statement saying the war would be lawful without a further UN resolution, only to have his longer, much more equivocal opinion given only 10 days earlier eventually leaked.
His Iraq troubles were followed by a furore over his insistence on retaining the final say in whether prosecutions of senior Labour figures should go ahead in the loans-for-peerages case.
His reputation was further battered by revelations over his part in halting a Serious Fraud Office investigation into alleged corruption by BAE Systems in the Al-Yamamah arms deal with Saudi Arabia.
The scandal of Blair's legacy in the criminal justice system is something that I will reserve for another post, but suffice to say that - under this Attorney General - a shift of gravity took place, replacing the central concern of presumption of innocence with the Blair theme of "protecting the victim", a nuanced shift that, made the presumption of innocence less important than it has ever been before in the British criminal justice system.In an exchange of letters with Mr Blair, he said: "I wanted to put on record how honoured and proud I have been to have served in this role. At just over six years, my term of office has been the longest of any Labour attorney general. It hardly needs saying that during that period we have faced a host of challenges, many of them raising important legal questions ... conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, the fight against terrorism, the balancing of individual rights and collective security, continuing constitutional reform, and the great progress towards peace and stability in Northern Ireland."
Mr Blair replied that he discharged his role "at all times with integrity and professionalism ... You have shown an unwavering commitment to the importance of the rule of law and human rights. You have also made a huge contribution to the government's success in improving the criminal justice system."
There are many things that Blair has done which I regard as positive. But his failings have been the Iraq war and the effect that he has had on the criminal justice system.
Both of those immense failings have, to a large degree, been carried out with the assistance of the Attorney General.
So Brown can be grateful that he gets to start his term in office with the current Attorney General falling on his sword.
Goldsmith was an appalling Attorney General, a friend of Blair's who seemed not to understand that his role was to advise the government of legal matters whilst remaining almost above the government. Goldsmith went the way of Gonzales in the United States and started acting as if he was Tony Blair's personal lawyer, which was a complete abdication of his responsibilities.
When a letter was leaked from the Solicitor-General's office during the Westland helicopter crisis, the then Attorney General, Sir Michael Havers, was so enraged that he threatened to send the police into Number Ten unless Thatcher immediately launched an enquiry, which she promptly did. This was a moment which illustrates the independence of that great office.
When Goldsmith was faced with a war which was illegal without a second UN resolution, he took advice from the only international lawyer in Britain who would tell him what he wanted to hear and then presented this as a case for the legality of the war, a case that even Goldsmith conceded might not hold up in court. However, by appearing to argue that there was a case for saying that the war was legal, he gave Blair the wriggle room he needed to loudly proclaim that the Attorney General had pronounced the war "legal".
Both Blair and Goldsmith then hid behind the traditional secrecy given to the Attorney General's advice and refused to discuss the matter further.
As I say, historians will pick over what Goldsmith did for decades to come. But, for the moment, I will simply say good riddance to bad rubbish.
An appalling Attorney General has stood down. Let the celebrations begin.
Click title for full article.
No comments:
Post a Comment