A wigging for Lord Irvine

摘要

Shortly after Jack Straw, the home secretary, took office, he thought he should have a chat with the Lord Chief Justice about matters of mutual interest such as sentencing. What could be more innocent than that? Plenty, according to Deny Irvine, the Lord Chancellor in charge of the judiciary. Eventually he conceded that the two might meet, but an amazing wrangle then took place as to whether it would be more appropriate to hold the meeting in Mr Straw's office, or in that of the Lord Chief Justice, or on neutral territory in the Palace of Westminster. The charitable might argue that the incident speaks well of both men. Mr Straw was acting as a member of the prime minister's "call-me-Tony" government should act. Lord Irvine was behaving as a Lord Chancellor should behave, protecting the judiciary against any threat to its independence from elected politicians. Be that as it may, it was an early signal that relations between two senior members of Mr Blair's cabinet were less than easy.