Robert Jenrick has launched an unprecedented assault on Britain’s judiciary, vowing to scrap the independent sentencing council and sack dozens of judges he accused of “open borders activism”.
The shadow justice secretary claimed to have uncovered a slew of judges “with links to open borders charities” who are broadcasting left-wing views on social media.
“They dishonor generations of independent jurists who came before them, and they undermine the people’s trust in the law itself,” he said, adding that “judges who blur the line between adjudication and activism can have no place in our justice system”.
Brandishing a judge’s wig, which he said signifies “the transition from their everyday personality to that of a legal arbiter”, he warned “we have a problem” with some acting against British interests. He said tens of judges have spend their careers “fighting to keep illegal migrants in this country”, adding that “some even continue to do so, whilst, astonishingly, serving as judges”.
“It’s like finding out halfway through a football match that the ref is actually a season ticket holder for the other side,” he told the Conservative Party conference.
Responding, David Lammy accused Mr Jenrick of “threatening to trash the institutions and traditions that hold our country together”.
The justice secretary said: “The independence of judges from politicians is not optional. It is the cornerstone of British democracy. When politicians start deciding which judges can stay or go, that is democratic backsliding and Robert Jenrick knows it.”
And, in a reference to Mr Jenrick’s leaked comments about not seeing “another white face” on a visit to Birmingham earlier this year, Mr Lammy added: “Unlike Robert Jenrick, the public knows Britishness isn’t about retreating into suspicion or judging people by the colour of their skin. It’s about pride in what we build and contribute together.”
Mr Jenrick’s vow to scrap the sentencing council, which is responsible for setting guidelines on sentencing, comes after a row this year sparked by its guidance recommending judges take into account factors such as ethnicity or gender when deciding whether to ask for a pre-sentence report.
Mr Jenrick and others said the guidance would result in people facing a lesser punishment on the basis of their ethnicity.
The proposal was withdrawn and the government introduced legislation to require any new guidance to be approved by ministers.
Elsewhere in Mr Jenrick’s speech, to a main hall littered with empty seats on the penultimate day of the Tory gathering, he took aim at Mr Lammy as “pointless” and riffed on “four blondes” who tell the story of the trouble facing the Conservative Party.
He talked about the evictions of ex-Tory MP Sir Michael Fabricant and Tory activist Emily Hewertson from the Big Brother house, before joking that Liz Truss would ask to be paid by the minute if she appeared on the show.
The fourth blonde was former deputy prime minister Lord Heseltine, with Mr Jenrick saying he took inspiration from the Tory grandee’s strong focus on taking the fight to Labour.
