Andy Burnham, Law and UK Justice: What’s in Store?

The Burnham purge of the Cabinet has resulted in radical personnel changes in the Ministry of Justice and among the Law Officers, with the departures of David Lammy, Lord Hermer KC, Baroness Levitt KC and Lord Timpson. Their replacements are all less experienced legally and politically, less well known and consequently lacking in political weight.

To discuss the implications of these developments for UK law and politics, the rule of law, sentencing and prisons policy, Double Jeopardy hosts Ken Macdonald KC and Tim Owen KC are joined by regular guest Danny Shaw, a former BBC journalist and expert on criminal justice, policing, security and immigration.

Who is the new Lord Chancellor, Nottingham MP Alex Norris, and what message does his appointment send to lawyers, the judiciary and the public, when a person with no previous Cabinet experience or legal qualification was the last Cabinet appointment to be announced by Andy Burnham?

Was he appointed because more senior people with Cabinet experience turned down the chance to be Lord Chancellor? If so, what does that say about the long-term demise of a once great Office of State, when the Lord Chancellor is the least experienced member of the Cabinet?

What does the unexpected resignation of Lord Timpson say about the prospects for penal reform in the UK? He is replaced by the 15th Prisons Minister since 2010, Catherine McKinnell MP, someone with no relevant knowledge or experience in this uniquely difficult area of prisons and sentencing policy.

 

The trio also discuss Andy Burnham’s decision, three days after taking office, to pause the statutory early release scheme due to come into force on 2 September. The decision followed a media onslaught focusing on the grief and rage of PC Harper’s widow at the prospect of her husband’s killers being released halfway through their determinate sentences instead of at the two-thirds point. Is this an example of Burnham’s wish to be popular rather than make tough decisions?

 

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Covering the critical intersections of politics and law in the UK with expert commentary on high-profile legal cases, political controversies, prisons and sentencing, human rights law, current political events and the shifting landscape of justice and democracy. With in-depth discussions and influential guests, Double Jeopardy is the podcast that uncovers the forces shaping Britain's legal and political future.

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