Yet another shifty in the political elite
The Editor,
The Daily Mail
Sir,
When Lord Morris of Aberavon, whose criticism of Sir John Chilcott you report today (Aug 21) was Attoney General in 1988 he chaired a Labour Conference fringe meeting of the Society of Labour Lawyers. My purpose in attending was to raise from the floor the question of the EU’s Corpus Juris plan for a single Napoleonic legal system for the whole of the EU, replacing our adversarial system of which he was then the head.
After I described the plan and pointed out that it would out an end to Magna Carta rights such as habeas corpus, jury trial, lay magistrates and allow (effectively indefinite) detention without even prima facie evidence guilt, the points I raised were heard in silence and then ignored as Lord Morris said “Next question?” My impression was that all of them were already aware of the plan but not concerned by it.
When by coincidence I bumped into Lord Morris at the Membury Services on the M4 and politely tried to raise the subject again, he walked suprisingly rapidly to his car and saying only “Very good!” accelerated away. As far as I am aware he has never spoken publicly on Corpus Juris from that day to this, despite it being widely publicised* and rejected in principle by Parliament shortly afterwards. You will perhaps understand that I am not in the least interested in Lord Morris’ views on anything.
Yours sincerely,
Idris Francis