Irvine and Blunkett battle it out to control the law

The election aftermath continues to dominate the legal news, with the powers of the Lord Chancellor and argument for a ministry of justice to the fore.

A shake-up of the Home Office has given the Lord Chancellor's Department (LCD) its wider constitutional responsibilities for human rights, freedom of information and data protection; The Times then reported (16 June) that Lord Irvine has fought off new Home Secretary David Blunkett's attempt to gain control of the Court Service.'Mr Blunkett...

believes that greater co-ordination of the [criminal justice] system could be achieved if responsibility for the courts was moved to the Home Office,' the article said.

However, Lord Irvine has won his 'week-long Whitehall fight to save his empire from being broken up'.

The argument and the forthcoming review of the criminal justice system by Lord Justice Auld reflect the way the three main law and order departments - the LCD, Home Office and Law Officers' Department - 'are working more closely', the paper said, giving credence to articles earlier in the week in both The Times and The Daily Telegraph (12 June) calling for a ministry of justice.

In The Telegraph, Joshua Rozenberg bemoaned the fact that Lord Irvine's reappointment as Lord Chancellor 'is a sure sign that the government has ruled out creation of a ministry of justice'.

Referring to the Auld review and the legislation that will follow, he said: 'A Bill that cuts across several departments must be a recipe for conflict.'

He went on: 'The home secretary now looks much more like a minister of the interior, just as the Lord Chancellor - with his new responsibilities - looks more like a minister of justice.

But this makes it harder still to justify keeping the Lord Chancellor out of the Commons.' The article predicted a series of turf wars between Lord Irvine and Mr Blunkett, and said this might 'finally persuade' the prime minister that he should have appointed 'one minister of justice, not two'.

In The Times, David Faulkner, a former senior Home Office official, argued for a ministry of justice on the grounds that 'justice is an aim to be pursued in its own right, and must not be seen as the mechanism by which the state controls its citizens.

But, above all, justice needs a minister who can argue, if necessary, against the home secretary and other colleagues in cabinet'.

Some were sad to see the end of former LCD minister David Lock, who spectacularly lost his seat to an independent.

'The one government law officer who battled to protect clients' wallets was David Lock,' the Daily Express's Blackfriar column said (13 June), nicknaming him 'The Terror of the Temples'.

It lamented: 'With Lock goes our last hope of restraining the lawyers, or at any rate their fees.'

Marcel Berlins in his Guardian column (12 June) said Mr Lock was 'a good minister and managed to enrage the entire bar when acting as Irvine's hatchet man in reforming (or destroying, as they see it) the structure of barristers' fees'.

The Mail on Sunday (17 June) was the only paper to note that Harriet Harman has become the first solicitor (and first woman) to be appointed Solicitor-General.

Predicting that Ms Harman will lead the way in reforming the legal profession, it cautioned that 'reform takes a while', explaining: 'The first Labour government wanted a solicitor in this job, but was talked out of it.

No, not Tony Blair's first government.

The one elected in 1923.'

The Guardian (12 June) said that in getting the post, Ms Harman 'took the advice she fears her female colleagues fail to heed and asked for the job she wanted.

Her forthrightness paid off'.

Ms Harman, commonly described as the 'sacked social security secretary', told the paper: 'I think it will suit me.

It's interesting, I'll be my own boss, and it's out of the firing line.'Finally, both Marcel Berlins and The Independent's legal diary (12 June), recalled the fate of David Lock and another former LCD minister Keith Vaz and wondered whether working with Lord Irvine brought forth some sort of ancient curse.

'Is the job dangerous?' asked Mr Berlins.

If so, defence secretary Geoff Hoon and newly promoted Northern Ireland minister Jane Kennedy should watch out.

Neil Rose