Robert Jenrick has launched an unprecedented assault on Britain’s judiciary, vowing to scrap the independent sentencing council and sack dozens of judges he accused of “open borders activism”.
The shadow justice secretary claimed to have uncovered a slew of judges “with links to open borders charities” who are broadcasting left-wing views on social media.
“They dishonour generations of independent jurists who came before them, and they undermine the people’s trust in the law itself,” he said, adding that “judges who blur the line between adjudication and activism can have no place in our justice system”.
Brandishing a judge’s wig, which he said signifies “the transition from their everyday personality to that of a legal arbiter”, he warned, “we have a problem” with some acting against British interests. He said tens of judges have spent their careers “fighting to keep illegal migrants in this country”, adding that “some even continue to do so, whilst, astonishingly, serving as judges”.
“It’s like finding out halfway through a football match that the ref is actually a season ticket holder for the other side,” he told the Conservative Party conference.
Former Supreme Court judge Lord Sumption slammed the plans, warning they would undermine public trust in the judiciary.
He told BBC Radio 4’s World At One programme: “The only possible reason for going back to the old system would be to appoint judges who were less independent or more political than the ones appointed by the Judicial Appointments Commission.”
Lord Sumption warned that it would shift towards a US-style model, adding: “In the United States, the Supreme Court has become subservient to the president and enabled him to behave like an autocrat.
“I think that is a very serious business in the United States and we should be very careful to take warning from it.”
He said the shadow justice secretary’s attacks on “activist” judges were a mistake: “Judges have got to be independent of the Government and independent of political sentiment, I entirely agree with that.
“But they can’t be independent if they are liable to be denounced by politicians and I think that that is a serious mistake, it is a misjudgment on his part.”
And David Lammy accused Mr Jenrick of “threatening to trash the institutions and traditions that hold our country together”.
The justice secretary said: “The independence of judges from politicians is not optional. It is the cornerstone of British democracy. When politicians start deciding which judges can stay or go, that is democratic backsliding – and Robert Jenrick knows it.”
And, in a reference to Mr Jenrick’s leaked comments about not seeing “another white face” on a visit to Birmingham earlier this year, Mr Lammy added: “Unlike Robert Jenrick, the public knows Britishness isn’t about retreating into suspicion or judging people by the colour of their skin. It’s about pride in what we build and contribute together.”
Mr Jenrick’s vow to scrap the Sentencing Council, which is responsible for setting guidelines on sentencing, comes after a row this year sparked by its guidance recommending judges take into account factors such as ethnicity or gender when deciding whether to ask for a pre-sentence report.
Mr Jenrick and others said the guidance would result in people facing a lesser punishment on the basis of their ethnicity.
The proposal was withdrawn and the government introduced legislation to require any new guidance to be approved by ministers.
The Law Society of England and Wales said it would continue to advocate for “systems which maintain the independence of the judiciary and reflect respect for the rule of law”.
President Richard Atkinson: “Sentencing guidelines are important to the courts to ensure consistency, while allowing judges discretion to get the sentence correct for the particular offence and offender, within the framework set by parliament.”
Elsewhere in Mr Jenrick’s speech, to a main hall littered with empty seats on the penultimate day of the Tory gathering, he took aim at Mr Lammy as “pointless” and riffed on “four blondes” who tell the story of the trouble facing the Conservative Party.
He talked about the evictions of ex-Tory MP Sir Michael Fabricant and Tory activist Emily Hewertson from the Big Brother house, before joking that Liz Truss would ask to be paid by the minute if she appeared on the show.
The fourth blonde was former deputy prime minister Michael Heseltine, with Mr Jenrick saying he took inspiration from the Tory grandee’s strong focus on taking the fight to Labour.
