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Until we have a legal heavyweight Lord Chancellor ( ie of Supreme Court or Court of Appeal quality ) who sits at the cabinet table and has the respect of the Prime Minister in all matters legal the Government will continue to fail to understand the legal system ( civil, domestic and criminal) and what's good for it. As a lawyer I would say that wouldn't I? Tony Blair and Cherrie Booth ( both lawyers) greatly undermined the authority of office of the Lord Chancellor during their period in control ( shame, as any Lord Chancellor would have been able to advise Tony that starting a war against Iraq without a United Nations Resolution would be illegal). Now our senior judges are left to give press statements and sound bites when it is safe to do so at the end of their careers thus slightly undermining their independence and neutrality in all things political.