Manchester Arena ~ Inquest Pre-Hearings

On the evening of Monday 22^nd May, at 22.33 hrs BST, a bomb was detonated in the foyer of the Manchester Arena – BBC News 23^rd May.   22 people were killed and over 100 injured (many seriously) – BBC News 27^th May.   The bomb was detonated as people were leaving the Arena following a concert by US singer Ariana Grande.

The attacker was identified by police as Salman Ramadan Abedi – (see BBC 26^th May) - a 22-year-old Briton of Libyan ancestry who detonated a shrapnel-laden improvised explosive device at one of the exits as concertgoers were leaving.  Abedi was born in Manchester in 1994, grew up in the Whalley Range area and lived in Fallowfield.  It appears that he was known to British Security Services but was not regarded as high risk – The Guardian 23^rd May. 

A number of individuals were arrested

Insane automatism and driving

On 25 July, in the House of Commons, the death of 15 year old Katelyn Dawson was raised by Mr Barry Sheerman MP (Huddersfield).  Mr Sheerman asked the Leader of the House of Commons (Mr Jacob Rees-Mogg MP) -

"On 10 January 2018, Katelyn Dawson was killed and two other women were very badly injured when a white BMW crashed into a queue of people as Katelyn was going to school. She was 15 and an only child. Could we have an early debate on what is going on in the Crown Prosecution Service? It has been many months and now the Crown Prosecution Service has decided not to bring any charge against the driver ....  He got off because the CPS thought he was going to argue insane automatism, which is increasingly being used by wealthy and well-connected people to get off charges when they kill people."

A new government forms

The ritual transfer of executive power took place on Wednesday 24 July 2019.  The outgoing Prime Minister (Theresa May) attended the House of Commons for her final Prime Minister's Questions and then went to Buckingham Palace to tender her resignation to HM The Queen.  Mrs May will have advised the Queen to appoint Boris Johnson, the successful candidate in the Conservative Party leadership election.  Mr Johnson then attended the palace and was duly appointed Prime Minister.  This time-honoured ritual emphasised the constitutional facts that HM The Queen is Head of State and that the government is Her Majesty's Government.

Mr Johnson returned to No.10 Downing Street, spoke briefly

Boris Johnson becomes Conservative Party leader

With exactly 100 days to go before the United Kingdom leaves the European Union (EU), the Conservative and Unionist Party announced that Boris Johnson is to be party leader.   Mr Johnson won 92,153 votes (66%) to Mr Hunt's 46,656 (34%).

On Wednesday 24 July, the Queen's first visitor will be the outgoing Prime Minister - Theresa May.  Mr Johnson will then visit the palace to be formally appointed as Prime Minister. 

During a lengthy campaign, Mr Johnson made clear that he plans to lead the UK out of the EU by 31 October 2019 - i.e. to "deliver Brexit."   His stance has been that this will take place with or without a withdrawal agreement.

Appointment of Prime Minister:

In law, the Queen may

Northern Ireland (Executive Formation) Bill - (2)

An earlier post looked at the Northern Ireland (Executive Formation) Bill when it was before the House of Commons.   The principal purpose of the Bill is to extend the period for forming an Executive under section 1(1) of the Northern Ireland (Executive Formation and Exercise of Functions) Act 2018 and to impose a duty on the Secretary of State to report on progress towards the formation of an Executive in Northern Ireland.

The reporting requirements are in Clause 3 of the Bill.   Originally this was a short clause of just 3 subsections.  It has now expanded to 21 subsections.

On Thursday 18 July,

European Parliament 16 July 2019 ~ Brexit and no deal

On 16 July 2019 the European Parliament narrowly approved the nomination of German politician Ursula von der Leyen as President of the European Commission.  The Parliament has 751 members.  733 votes were cast and those divided 327 against and 383 in favour - (51% of the total number of MEP or 52.25% of the votes cast).

Ursula von der Leyen was nominated by the European Council at the Council meeting held on 30 June - previous post 3 July 2019.  See HERE for background to the nomination.

In

An Ambassador resigns ....

Journalist Isabel Oakeshott, writing for the Mail on Sunday (7 July), revealed comments made by the United Kingdom's Ambassador to the USA (Sir Kim Darroch) about the administration of President Donald Trump.  The comments were in diplomatic communications (Diptel) between the Ambassador and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO).

In one document Sir Kim wrote:  'We don't really believe this Administration is going to become substantially more normal; less dysfunctional; less unpredictable; less faction riven; less diplomatically clumsy and inept.'

Northern Ireland (Executive Formation) Bill

The Northern Ireland (Executive Formation) Bill received its First Reading on 4 July 2019.  It was introduced as a Bill to:

"Extend the period for forming an Executive under section 1(1) of the Northern Ireland (Executive Formation and Exercise of Functions) Act 2018 and to impose a duty on the Secretary of State to report on progress towards the formation of an Executive in Northern Ireland."

Northern Ireland is supposed

Stephen Laxley-Lennon ~ Guilty of contempt of court

Updated 9 July 2019  - with link to High Court reasons.

Updated 11 July 2019 - sentencing

The Attorney-General's Office has announced that Stephen Yaxley-Lennon (aka "Tommy Robinson") has been found guilty of contempt of court following a trial held at the Old Bailey before Dame Victoria Sharp P (QBD) and Warby J.   Dame Victoria Sharp was appointed President of the Queen's Bench Division upon the retirement, at age 70, of Sir Brian Leveson.

The contempt proceedings have an interesting and quite lengthy history.

Crown Court at Leeds - 25 May 2018:

In April 2017, Kirklees Magistrates' Court sent a number of men, accused of serious sexual offending against young females, for trial

Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson v Westminster Magistrates' Court and others

This previous post (30 May 2019) looked at the decision by  District Judge (Magistrates' Courts) Margot Coleman to issue a summons to Boris Johnson alleging three offences of misconduct in public office.  The alleged offences related to the 2016 EU referendum campaign during which it was said that Boris Johnson repeatedly lied and misled the British public as to the cost of EU membership, expressly stating, endorsing or inferring that the cost of EU membership was £350 million per week.

The summons was later quashed by the High Court (Rafferty LJ and Supperstone J) for reasons set out in a judgment dated 3 July 2019 and published on the Judiciary website.

It is no surprise that 

EU Council ~ 30 June to 2 July 2019

EU Council:

The European Council has met over 30 June 2019 to 2 July 2019 and future key EU appointments were considered.  Prime Minister Theresa May attended on behalf of the UK.

The European Council plays an important role in certain appointment procedures for high profile EU level roles. In particular, it is responsible for:

• electing the President of the European Council
• proposing the President of the European Commission
• appointing the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy
• officially appointing the entire body of Commissioners
• appointing the Executive Board of the European Central Bank (ECB), including the ECB president

Process:

Electing the President requires a qualified majority. 

Erskine May online

Thomas Erskine May

"Parliamentary Practice" is the title of the late Thomas Erskine May's authoritative and influential work on parliamentary procedure and constitutional conventions affecting Parliament.  Rather than a set of rules, Erskine May is a description of how procedure in the House of Commons and House of Lords has evolved and the conventions that apply.

Now in its 25th Edition, Erskine May is published online via Parliament's website - HERE.  It continues to be available in printed form.

Thomas Erskine May himself was born in 1815 and became Clerk of the House of Commons in 1871.  He served in that post until shortly before his death in 1886.  His work

20 years of devolution

Scottish Parliament

The Scotland Act 1998 section 1(1) states - "There shall be a Scottish Parliament."

The newly created Scottish Parliament was formally opened by HM The Queen on 12 May 1999 and the Parliament assumed its legislative powers on 1 July 1999.  It was the first time since March 1707 that Scotland had its own Parliament.  The creation of the Parliament resulted from demands for constitutional change that went back as far as the mid 19th century.

Further demands for constitutional change

Lord Sumption - Reith Lectures 2019

In January 2012, Lord Sumption was appointed as a Justice of the Supreme Court directly from the Bar.  In December 2018 he reached the compulsory retirement age of 70 years and had to retire even though he can be invited to sit as a member of the court until he reaches age 75 - See his Valedictory via the Supreme Court website.  In May 2017, Lord Neuberger said - “ ... the situation is demonstrably illogical as judges who must retire at 70 are able to sit as part-time judges until reaching 75, and people can be jurors until 75.”

Lord Sumption has delivered the BBC's annual Reith Lectures

Human Rights in the UK

European Convention on Human Rights

An overview of the position regarding "human rights" in the UK.

Rights in general - a basic note:

There appears to be no universally agreed definition of  the terms "right" (or "rights") but the concept of rights is important and there is an abundance of literature in which numerous legal thinkers have sought to analyse and explain rights.

At a basic level. a right appears

Choosing the Prime Minister

Theresa May announces intention to resign

Updated 30 June - see Articles below

Some thoughts on the process of choosing the Prime Minister.

On 24 May 2019, battered and broken by the stormy waters of Brexit, the Prime Minister (Rt. Hon. Theresa May MP) announced that she would resign from the leadership of the Conservative and Unionist Party.  Mrs May had been forced into this position by her party's MPs - (see the media articles - links below). 

The resignation duly took place on 7 June and the party began the process of electing their new leader. At the time of writing,  two candidates remain in the race - Rt. Hon Boris Johnson MP and Rt. Hon. Jeremy Hunt MP.  Their names

The concept of Rule of Law

In R (Unison) v Lord Chancellor [2017] UKSC 51, Lord Reed said at para 68 - "At the heart of the concept of the rule of law is the idea that society is governed by law."

The important concept of "the Rule of Law" is much more than one of the clichés of modern life. The rule of law is invoked by lawyers and politicians but there is no precise definition to which one can turn.  Nonetheless, authoritative sources contain references to the rule of law and offer descriptions of the concept.


References to rule of law:

The rule of law is mentioned

Prorogation of Parliament to achieve "no deal" Brexit

Let's take back control

The destructive testing of the UK's uncodified constitution continues as the possibility of a Prorogation of Parliament is suggested to enable a new Prime Minister to push through a 31 October "no deal" Brexit.   The new PM will be the winner of the Conservative Party leadership contest - selected by 313 Conservative MPs and, in the region of, 160,000 party members.  The party does not have a majority in the House of Commons and governs with a confidence and supply arrangement with the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP).

Removing Parliament

Justice Report ~ Prosecuting sexual offences

Justice Report:

Justice has published the report of Working Party - Prosecuting Sexual Offences

"Recent years have seen a surge in sexual offence allegations. The uncovering of non-recent crimes, a rise in reporting, shifting cultural attitudes and the internet have all contributed to a large increase of cases entering the criminal justice system. In turn, this increase has thrown into the spotlight the complexities of prosecuting sexual offences. The report calls for important reforms to protect complainants and vulnerable individuals and recommends stronger obligations on internet companies to safeguard children and stop online sexual offences from taking place."

Dennis Hutchings ~ Application for Judicial Review

"Trial by jury is a hallowed principle of the administration of justice ..." - per Lord Judge CJ in R v Twomey [2010] 1 WLR 630.

A previous post looked at the on-going case of former soldier Dennis Hutchings - Northern Ireland - talking Points (30 October 2018)

Mr Dennis Hutchings (now aged 78) served with the Life Guards Regiment in Northern Ireland.  He is facing trial