MINISTRY OF JUSTICE 0 JUDGES UNITED 1

If you don’t like football, you might as well go to bed now, because from about 4pm onwards, that’s all you’re going to get. Even Labour ministers have been rather silent today, with nothing of much note emerging from the various Whitehall departments.

However, there is always something rumbling on, and today it’s the Ministry of Justice which is still causing the judiciary great concerns. Lord Philips, who sits at the top of the pile when it comes to those who like white wigs, is quoted in the Guardian today as saying that not only did John Reid create this department purely as a means of waging war on terrorism, but he didn’t even have the decency to tell Lord Falconer, the current Lord Chancellor, of the plans to split the Home Office in two; poor old Falconer had to read about it in the Sunday Telegraph. With the judiciary and Whitehall mandarins being poles apart on this new department, and with senior judges never being so angry or worried over their independence, this political spat has all the ingredients to emerge as a major constitutional crisis. Whilst Blair and Reid couldn’t care less, it will be up to poor old Gordon to piece it all back together again. For a man not known for his negotiating skills, the outcome looks less than happy!