Bad news for the elves at the Ministry of Justice: Dominic ‘Bah, Humbug’ Raab has cancelled the Christmas party – well, not quite.

The lord chancellor took the broadcast round on Sunday morning and told Sky’s Trevor Phillips on Sunday programme that ‘we won’t be having a Ministry of Justice-wide Christmas party this year’.

But fear not, civil servants: your chance to have wine and canapes with the latest lord chancellor is not yet lost. ‘We will be having, I think, appropriate drinks at a smaller scale,’ he added.

Given the MoJ thought it was ‘appropriate’ for the criminal justice system to carry on with courts open ‘at a smaller scale’, you might want to get there early if you’re thirsty.

Meanwhile, a photo of the MoJ’s Christmas tree drew the ire of the professions today, with permanent secretary Antonia Romeo’s rather innocuous tweet prompting one criminal barrister to post a picture of what appears to be a very damp corridor in Snaresbrook Crown Court.

Fortunately, HMCTS acting chief executive Kevin Sadler was there yesterday taking part in a ‘tree planting initiative, helping improve the sustainability of our estate’. Hopefully the leak is next on the list.

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