Speaker issues warning as Robert Jenrick accused of ‘attack on the judiciary’

The speaker rose to remind Robert Jenrick that MPs are not meant to criticise judges in the House after a tense frontbench exchange concerning the independence of the judiciary.

The intervention came as the shadow justice secretary criticised Greg Ó Ceallaigh, an immigration judge, for past comments.

Jenrick said: “Greg Ó Ceallaigh is a serving immigration judge who decides asylum and deportation appeals.

“It took nothing more than a basic Google search to uncover his past comments that the Conservative Party should be treated the same way as Nazis and cancer.”

He added: “Does the lord chancellor [Shabana Mahmood] believe this is compatible with judicial impartiality, and if not, what does she intend to do about it?”

The justice secretary responded: “When people might have complaints to make about judges, there is a well-placed mechanism for them to do so by making a complaint to the Judicial Complaints Office.

“If he wishes to make a complaint, he can do so. What I’m not going to do is indulge in personal, effectively doxing of judges – not when judges are simply doing their job of applying the law in the cases that appear before them.”

At this point in the exchange, the speaker intervened. Sir Lindsay Hoyle said: “Can I just say we have to be careful that we’re not stepping into an area we shouldn’t be?

“We’re not meant to criticise judges, and this House wouldn’t do so and I’m sure we’d like to change the topic.”

Jenrick responded: “Well, Mr. Speaker, it is important that judges and the manner in which they are appointed is properly scrutinised in this House, and I won’t shy away from that.”

Jenrick went on to ask his second question, concerning Helen Pitcher who he said was “forced to resign in disgrace as the chair of the Criminal Cases Review Commission after a formal panel found that she’d failed in her duties during one of the worst miscarriages of justice in recent memory.”

He added: “But she’s still in charge of judicial appointments, despite judges appearing in the media every week now for their activism.

“Her commission has failed to conduct the most basic checks on potential judges, either out of sheer incompetence or out of sympathy with their hard left open borders views. The commission is broken and is bringing the independence of the judiciary into disrepute.”

Mahmood responded: “I’m afraid he can’t elide the process for the appointment of judges with a wider attack on the independence of the judiciary.

“I would hope that he would take the admonishment from the speaker and the clear approbation of this House to reflect on the way in which he is approaching his role. If there are complaints to be made about judicial conduct, there is already a robust process in place to do so.

“And if the shadow [lord] chancellor wants to avail himself of that, I’m sure, given how active he is he’ll be happy to do. What is completely improper is to take his position in this House, to indulge in a wider attack on the judiciary at a time when we know that judicial security has been compromised.”

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