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Telegraph
5 days ago
- Politics
- Telegraph
Two-tier justice is a national disgrace
When Attorney General Richard Hermer told the BBC in June that it was 'disgusting' and 'wrong' to claim that Britain had a two-tier justice system, 'offensive' to the country's 'crown prosecutors' and 'courts', he was attempting to bat away a wave of criticism that sought to make the point that justice in this country is no longer blind. It did not help his point that just a few weeks before, the Sentencing Council for England and Wales had sought to make this implicit bias explicit, suggesting that some offenders should receive more lenient sentences based on their ethnicity. Even this Labour Government felt compelled to pass emergency legislation to block the move. Perhaps the most visible manifestation of two-tier justice is the treatment of Lucy Connolly, the wife of a Conservative councillor jailed after posting on social media that people could 'set fire to all the… hotels full of [asylum seekers] for all I care'. This was a stupid and reprehensible remark, fired into the void of social media with little thought as to its potential consequences. Ms Connolly entered a guilty plea, and was sentenced to 31 months' imprisonment. Had she stood her ground, she might well have walked free. Ricky Jones, a Labour councillor who made a seemingly explicit call for violence – telling a large crowd that they needed to 'cut' the 'throats' of 'disgusting Nazi fascists' and 'get rid of them all' – was cleared by a jury yesterday. There is a clear difference between a guilty plea and a jury decision. The clear disparity in outcomes, however, will further fuel criticism of a system that appears to function very differently for those from the correct part of the political spectrum. And for the cynical, there is the question of the pressure placed on Ms Connolly by the prospect of being held on remand for an extended period. This does not help with the 'community tensions' politicians are at pains to minimise. Nor does it help public acceptance of the justice system when visibly absurd outcomes mount up on a near daily basis. As Robert Jenrick has said in his interview with The Telegraph, the perception that judges 'act politically and bring their own personal politics into their job as a judge' has been immensely damaging. His proposals for tighter checks on appointments and a robust system for removals make a great deal of sense. This is particularly so in comparison with what appears to be the preferred outcome of the Government: for critics to shut up and accept that the legal system produces the right outcomes. Not only does this fail to silence criticism, it serves to further undermine faith in the law. Criticism of Britain's two-tier system will continue for as long as we get two-tier outcomes.
The Independent
05-08-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Why Robert Jenrick wants Law Society to withdraw its ‘race and ethnicity' guidance
Robert Jenrick has demanded the Law Society withdraw new guidance that he claimed 'seeks to divide people on the basis of race and ethnicity'. The shadow justice secretary has written to the body, which represents solicitors across England and Wales, complaining about new advice aimed at promoting the use of inclusive language by legal professionals. The guidance says that racial categorisation is based in white supremacy, and 'was developed as an attempt to prove biological superiority and maintain dominance over others'. Mr Jenrick said these were 'dangerous ideas' and that society should be 'colour-blind and merit-based'. He claimed the guidance runs contrary to 'the principle of equal treatment' and 'seeks to divide people on the basis of race and ethnicity'. 'It is unacceptable for the Law Society to promote this kind of ideology, particularly as other legal bodies back away from these ideas,' Mr Jenrick said in a letter to Law Society president Richard Atkinson. 'I urge you to withdraw this guidance immediately.' The Law Society has been contacted for comment. It comes after a row over new guidance directing judges to consider the lives of offenders from ethnic minority and other backgrounds before sentencing. Opponents claimed the changes could lead to a 'two-tier justice system' in which people from minority groups are treated more leniently. The guidance, which the Sentencing Council argued would ensure courts had comprehensive information to decide on an appropriate punishment, was later abandoned after ministers tabled legislation to override it. The Law Society's guide is separate, and its stated intention is to help solicitors 'be more inclusive with the language we use'.
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Top Tory ‘attack dog' or coiled viper? The Robert Jenrick conundrum
Standing in a field in Romford at the crack of dawn last week, Robert Jenrick watched as police raided the vans of car boot salesmen who were suspected of handling stolen tools. The shadow justice secretary had received a tip-off from a tradesman's social media account that the site was a hotspot for criminal activity, and decided to do something about it. As an immigration minister in Rishi Sunak's government, Jenrick was accustomed to attending police 'dawn raids', organised by his officials. Now, as an opposition MP, he had been forced to take matters into his own hands. He visited the area 'undercover', taking videos later used on his social media page, then contacted Essex Police to encourage them to launch an operation. The police swoop, also documented on Jenrick's social media accounts, recovered £150,000 of suspected stolen tools. It was, in the words of his team, just one of many recent 'wins'. It may have been a win for Jenrick personally. Whether it was also one for his party leader, Kemi Badenoch, is more complicated. Jenrick's unorthodox approach to opposition politics has raised eyebrows on the party's backbenches since he was appointed to her team last November. Among the shadow cabinet assembled out of the wreckage of last July's election defeat, the 43-year-old is by far the most vocal. Supportive colleagues say he is boosting the profile of Tories in opposition – which is no mean feat with Nigel Farage waiting in the wings. But others say he is, to use the perennial Westminster expression, 'on manoeuvres'. Most days of the week, Jenrick pumps out videos of himself walking along the street, often in a suit, talking about political issues he hopes will gather public momentum. The videos, shot by the 21-year-old university student Dov Forman, show the shadow justice secretary ranging widely across policy areas – many of which are not covered in his brief. Recent topics – described by his team as other 'wins' – include a man charged for harassing the 'religious institution of Islam' after he burned a Koran in the street, and the Sentencing Council's plan to create 'two-tier' rules on criminals of different races. Both campaigns produced results. The charges against the man were changed, in a quiet admission from the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) that Jenrick was right to complain of a 'backdoor blasphemy law'. And the Sentencing Council suspended its new guidelines after Shabana Mahmood, the Justice Secretary, joined his calls to scrap them. The videos have given Jenrick a significant following on social media. In the last year, his posts have received 200 million views on X and 20 million on Facebook. His team said 85 per cent of the audience is based in the UK. Among Conservative MPs, there is a collective understanding that anything that lands a glove on Sir Keir Starmer is good for the party, and other shadow cabinet ministers with few social media followers and little appetite for a scrap with the Government are under fire from their backbench colleagues. 'To me, Rob's performance demonstrates the invisibility of many of the others,' says one MP. 'The one consensus is that the shadow cabinet is massively underperforming. Rob is not.' Another senior party figure adds: 'I wish more of the shadow cabinet were doing this. 'Some of the leadership candidates decided to flounce off [after Badenoch won], but he stayed to help. All power to his elbow.' The latest popularity poll by ConservativeHome, the grassroots Tory Bible, found on Friday that Jenrick was the most popular shadow cabinet minister among the party's membership, and is 25 points ahead of his closest rival, Chris Philp. Badenoch, after a bruising set of local election results, has an approval rating of zero. Three of the shadow ministers most complained about by MPs – Gareth Bacon, Helen Whately and Ed Argar – are in negative figures. It is no wonder that, in light of his performance, some MPs have begun to wonder if a shadow Tory high command is operating out of Jenrick's poky Palace of Westminster office, which backs onto the River Thames. 'Rob looks for wins every day,' says a source close to him. 'That's the mantra. He believes we have to take the fight to our opponents and that we can't just sit back while Labour fail. 'We are always looking for something where we can make a difference, force a change and be more effective than Reform. He's not afraid to scrap and fight dirty – it gets results.' One of the key differences between Jenrick and Tory HQ in Matthew Parker Street is the line he takes on Reform. Farage has made it his main mission to gut the Conservative Party and become the 'main opposition' to Labour. With just five MPs, his claim to have already supplanted the Tories is overblown. But Conservative members are concerned by polling that shows many of them losing their seats at the next election to the 'Reformquake' – and blame their leader, Badenoch. 'People have been quietly unimpressed with how things have been going for a while, but after the local election results, a lot of people are furious, and some of them want Kemi gone already,' says one MP. Unlike Tory strategists who privately describe Farage as a populist running a protest party, Jenrick has focused heavily on illegal migration, Reform's main talking point, and embraced his opponent's personal style of campaigning. He is more likely to describe Farage as a politician who should be 'sent back to retirement'. Months after a bitter US election campaign dominated by rows about age and mental acuity, allies feel voters should be pointed to the fact that the Reform leader is 61, and will be 65 by the next election. He has also gone further than any of his front bench colleagues in suggesting that there should be a pact between the two parties. In a leaked recording published last month, Jenrick said he wanted the 'fight' against Labour to be 'united' and he was 'determined' to 'bring this coalition together'. A freewheeling – but popular – shadow justice secretary presents an interesting challenge for Badenoch. While she benefits from his campaigning, the Tory leader is well aware he still harbours ambitions to take her job if or when she falls. One party source pointed out that Jenrick is fiercely ambitious, and has made no secret of his desire to lead the country one day. His wife, the lawyer Michal Berkner, jokes to friends that she married him because she thought he would become Prime Minister. Jenrick's team says his sense of ambition comes from his relatively humble upbringing, compared to many of his colleagues, and an early interest in politics that drove him to seek election in the Conservative Association at Cambridge. 'Rob's upbringing in Wolverhampton and his family obviously shape his politics, but he's his own man with his own views,' his spokesman says. Another source who claimed to have knowledge of Jenrick's thinking says the shadow justice secretary was pleased he had lost last year's leadership election – knowing that the task of rebuilding the Conservatives in opposition would be long and thankless. Jenrick is instead said to be something of a coiled viper, waiting for his chance to strike when the time is right. In the meantime, he has taken up boxing in east London once a week with an Iranian trainer named 'Razor Ali'. The spokesman for Jenrick denies suggestions he is poised for another run at the leadership, pointing to the fact that he was on the morning broadcast round the day after the local elections, defending Badenoch. A sense of tension between the two has nonetheless bubbled away in recent headlines about the Conservatives' attempt to gain ground on Reform. After his comments hinting at a pact with Farage, Badenoch's spokesman was asked whether she considered him to be a 'team player'. The aide responded: 'Yes, the shadow cabinet is a well-functioning team.' Some in the party point out that whether she views him as trustworthy or not is irrelevant, as either way, she cannot sack him without making a powerful enemy on the backbenches. Others have concerns about any future leadership bid, after his open revolt against Rishi Sunak's government before last year's election. That was when, after resigning from the Home Office, Jenrick went on the offensive, telling broadcasters that the former prime minister's flagship Rwanda policy 'won't work'. '[Jenrick] spent six months after he left campaigning against his own party,' says one source who worked in the previous Conservative Government. 'That discounts him from the leadership, in my view.' Sources close to Jenrick insist that Sunak's migration policy was wrong, and that the failure of the Rwanda policy vindicates his decision. It is also true that Badenoch is safer than her predecessors from a leadership challenge, after the Conservative Party changed its rules to make it more difficult to hold an election. More MPs must now sign a letter to the chair of the 1922 committee to remove a leader, and anyone who sees off a challenge is safe from another election for a year. 'There is no mechanism for her to go,' says one MP, who adds that many colleagues would like her gone regardless. On the miserable Tory benches, there is no enthusiasm for more party infighting, and most MPs regard the headlines about shadow cabinet competition with despair. Conservatives know their main electoral competition now comes from Farage, not Labour, and that they face the genuine threat of extinction without a rapid rebrand – described by Badenoch as 'renewal'. At some point, Jenrick's ambition looks certain to produce the familiar fireworks of a leadership race. But for now, he looks set to keep picking up momentum by taking on issues faster and more aggressively than anyone else. 'He's energetic and he wants to get out there and prosecute our argument,' says a friend. 'In opposition Labour had a team of attack dogs that went for us every day. He's returning the favour.' Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Daily Mail
10-05-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Jailed migrants could avoid deportation under 'watered down' sentencing laws, Tories claim
Hundreds of convicted migrants could avoid deportation each year after the 'watering down' of Sentencing Council guidelines, Robert Jenrick has warned. The quango is said to have approved the 'lax' rules despite fears they will result in those convicted of immigration offences avoiding deportation. Under the new guidelines, judges will be advised to give sentences of less than 12 months in prison for several. Twelve months is the point at which convicted foreign nationals can face deportation. Mr Jenrick, the Tories ' justice spokesman, said 'watering down' the sentences meant hundreds of offenders would avoid the threshold for automatic deportation each year. He added: 'The Justice Secretary's representative signed this off, and now our borders will be blown further open. The only people benefiting from this Labour Government are the trade unionists, criminals and illegal migrants. 'Sir Keir Starmer must accept my Bill to block these ludicrous guidelines and sack the members of the Sentencing Council responsible for yet more madness.' It is the latest row over guidelines from the Sentencing Council after concerns special treatment was being given depending on age, sex and ethnicity of offenders. The Conservatives said the council's proposals on four key immigration offences now advise judges to give sentences of less than 12 months, despite the maximum available being much higher. The offence of knowingly entering the UK without permission carries a maximum custodial sentence of four years, but the council's guidelines say the starting point should be just six months. The Sentencing Council said the guidelines reflected current sentencing practice for less serious offending while proposing higher sentences for the most serious cases. It added that they were only draft guidelines. The Ministry of Justice said: 'This Government is committed to deporting eligible foreign national offenders as quickly as possible.'
Times
09-05-2025
- Politics
- Times
Convicted migrants could avoid deportation under new guidelines
Hundreds of migrants could avoid deportation each year, the Conservatives have warned after the Sentencing Council finalised its new guidelines. Minutes of a meeting of the council show it has approved new advice that will be sent to judges later this year advising them on immigration offences for the first time. The guidelines suggest sentence lengths that are significantly lower than the maximum sentences legislated by parliament. It will advise judges to give sentences of less than 12 months despite the maximum allowed in UK law being considerably higher. This timeframe is significant because, under UK law, foreign nationals who are sentenced to more than 12 months in jail are eligible for deportation. The guidance also sets out that an offender's 'first offence' should be
