Do you remember anything of Michael Ellis KC MP’s first stint as attorney general? I confess I don’t. Yet from March to September last year he covered the post while Suella Braverman took maternity leave. While Braverman’s views on refugees, judicial review and ‘woke’ Britain have grabbed headlines and regularly trended on Twitter, Ellis, now permanent holder of the office, throws less flamboyant shapes on the political dance floor.

Eduardo Reyes coutout

Eduardo Reyes

Also in prime minister Liz Truss’s new line-up is Brandon Lewis. The new justice secretary, like Ellis a barrister, began his tenure by doing something his predecessor Dominic Raab had not – he met with the leaders of the striking criminal bar. The gesture saw the cancellation of a planned demonstration, and while the positions of the MoJ and criminal barristers are hardly close,

Lewis on early evidence looks more engaged with this aspect of his brief.

Speaking of Raab, his pet project, the Bill of Rights bill, looks to be dead. Its second reading dematerialised and it seems unlikely the bill will be brought back in its current form. Raab, then, takes his monumental misreading of our common law system – the basis of the ‘judge-made law’ he objected to – with him to the back benches.

All of which begs a question. Are lawyers (leftie or otherwise), the judiciary and the rule of law in for a smoother ride than they’ve become accustomed to in recent years?

If so, perhaps we have Truss’s brief tenure as lord chancellor to thank for this. While critics recall she was slow to defend members of the judiciary named by the Mail as ‘enemies of the people’, she did eventually issue a statement defending the independence and impartiality of the judiciary. Maybe the process that led to that brief statement was formative. And perhaps her time as justice secretary was too – a role she assumed with no zealous reform agenda of her own.

There is much that government needs to fix in the law and justice sector. If we are in for a quieter time, there is a chance that the hard slog of overdue maintenance work can start.

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