Twentieth Letter to the Lord Chancellor,

Twentieth Letter to the Lord Chancellor,

Lord Chancellor, Secretary of State for Justice,

Mr Chris Grayling MP,

5th December 2014,

Dear Lord Chancellor,

So, you won the vote in the House of Commons on judicial review a few days ago. Congratulations: that is another one in the eye for all those ‘Rule of Law’ johnnies. They really are boring, banging on about it all the time. Your persuading the Commons to reverse the House of Lords amendments on judicial review to the Criminal Justice and Courts Bill is a triumph.

Nineteenth Letter to the Lord Chancellor

Nineteenth Letter to the Lord Chancellor,

Lord Chancellor, Secretary of State for Justice,

Mr Chris Grayling MP,

5th October 2014,

Dear Lord Chancellor,

Here is the argument we cleverly thought of in the Pontefract bunker when the new Attorney-General joined us last week:

1. It is in the public interest for the Conservative Party to be elected to form the next Government of the United Kingdom.

2. Promising to abolish the Human Rights Act and curtail the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights will help the Conservatives get re-elected.

Ergo: it is in the public interest for human rights in this country to be abandoned.

Eighteenth letter to the Lord Chancellor

Eighteenth letter to the Lord Chancellor,

Lord Chancellor, Secretary of State for Justice,

Mr Chris Grayling MP,

30th July 2014.

Dear Lord Chancellor,

There has been a revolution in the workplace up and down this country. The behaviour of bosses has dramatically improved and this has been achieved by a simple adjustment to policy made by you in July 2013. Figures just released compare employment tribunal claims made between January and March 2014 with the same period in 2013.

Seventeenth Letter to the Lord Chancellor

Lord Chancellor, Secretary of State for Justice,

Mr Chris Grayling MP,

22nd July 2014,

Dear Lord Chancellor,

Well you survived the reshuffle you old dog. It’s no surprise to me that you have kept your job given things are going so well at the MOJ with you at the helm.

Prisons policy
1. Prison officer numbers have been cut by 30% between 2010 and 2013 (27,650 down to 19,325).
2. 18 jails have closed in that period with a reduction of 6,500 places.
3. But there has been a recent sharp rise in the prison population.

Sixteenth Letter to the Lord Chancellor

Sixteenth Letter to the Lord Chancellor, Secretary of State for Justice,

Mr Chris Grayling,

22nd May 2014

Re: Operation Cotton (R v Scott Crawley and others)

Dear Lord Chancellor,

I want to congratulate you on your Court of Appeal pyrrhic victory yesterday. It will make your appearance on BBC Question Time later tonight a little easier, but we both know that you are in a very tight spot here.

Fifteenth Letter to the Lord Chancellor

Fifteenth Letter to the Lord Chancellor,

Secretary of State for Justice,

Mr Chris Grayling,

25th April 2014,

Dear Lord Chancellor,

I read your article published in The Daily Telegraph on 20th April 2014 when you glowingly stated “We are lucky and privileged that we have one of the finest legal systems in the world.” Well, it is true that you inherited one. Let’s have a look at what the coalition Government has done with it.

Fourteenth Letter to the Lord Chancellor

Fourteenth letter to the Lord Chancellor,

Secretary of State for Justice,

Mr Chris Grayling,

14th April 2014

Dear Lord Chancellor,

I too am pleased that our friend and ally Nigel Evans MP has been acquitted of those sex charges, but it is awkward that he is angry at the injustice of having to pay his own £130,000 legal fees. Of course it’s an injustice that an innocent man can be acquitted and lose his entire life savings in the process. What are you supposed to do about it? You’re only the Secretary of State for Justice.

Thirteenth Letter to the Lord Chancellor

Thirteenth Letter to the Lord Chancellor, Secretary of State for Justice,

Mr Chris Grayling,

26th March 2014,

Re: Book ban for prisoners

Dear Lord Chancellor,

Tough on literacy, tough on the causes of literacy: congratulations on your ban on sending books into prison under the newly written rules. You and I don’t need to read books so why should people who have committed a crime be allowed to receive them?

This media fuss is a good opportunity for you to promote your political career by emphasising your right wing credentials to the Tory grass roots.

Twelfth Letter to the Lord Chancellor

Twelfth Letter to the Lord Chancellor, Secretary of State for Justice,

Mr Chris Grayling,

16th March 2014

Dear Lord Chancellor,

Don’t fret about the wide use of the new term ‘grayling hearing’ (n. court hearing abandoned because of absence of a defence advocate). All publicity is good publicity for your stab at the leadership of the Tory party after the next election. The key thing is to avoid a meltdown of the criminal justice system in the run up to the General Election (in May 2015).

Eleventh Letter to the Lord Chancellor

Eleventh Letter to the Lord Chancellor, Secretary of State for Justice,

Mr Chris Grayling,

28th January 2014,

Dear Lord Chancellor,

Let me congratulate you on your Transforming Legal Aid response to the consultation, published yesterday. I think that my imps did a pretty good job cloaking its savage implications under a veneer of reasonableness. You have listened to your opponents and ignored them all: bravo!