Britannist

More on the High Court asking for ratification of the EU Constitution Lisbon 'Treaty' to be delayed at:

BBC NEWS | Politics | Brown offers EU treaty assurances

Britannist

BBC Europe correspondent Mark Mardell comments on his blog (in an article titled "New UK twist over Lisbon" dated today) at:

BBC NEWS | The Reporters | Mark Mardell

Baron von Lotsov

If anything the judge is being very fair to Wheeler. That could spell disaster for the government. Fingers crossed!

__________________
"A government big enough to supply you with everything you need, is a government big enough to take away everything that you have..."

Petrina

Thanks for that Britannist ,nice to see the High Court making absolutely sure that no one steals a march on them.

Millennium3

Profile: Lord Justice Richards
BBC 13 June 2007

One of Britain's most senior appeal judges has been cleared of exposing himself to a woman on a train.
Lord Justice Richards denied the charges, but voluntarily agreed not to sit at the Court of Appeal until his case was completed.

Sir Stephen Price Richards, 56, has presided over a number of the UK's most high-profile cases.

Most recently, he heard an appeal brought by the family of Jean Charles de Menezes, the Brazilian shot dead by police who mistook him for a suicide bomber.

Government 'devil'

Lord Justice Richards was educated at King's College School, Wimbledon, and St John's College, Oxford.

He was called to the bar in 1975.

For five years in the 1990s, he served as First Junior Treasury Counsel - the so-called "Treasury Devil".

Regarded as one of the most demanding jobs in the legal world, the Devil represents the government in the civil courts.


LORD JUSTICE RICHARDS
Called to the bar in 1975
Five years as the 'Treasury Devil'
Made Lord Justice of Appeal in 2005
Earns £184,000 a year
Traditionally, the Treasury Devil does not become a Queen's Counsel but is automatically appointed to the High Court, as Lord Justice Richards was in 1997.

He was knighted that same year and was made a Lord Justice of Appeal in 2005, a £184,000-a-year post.

In January, in one of the last cases he ruled on before his arrest, Lord Justice Richards heard an appeal by the de Menezes family.

Sitting with two other judges, he agreed that the House of Lords could consider their protests against the decision of the Crown Prosecution Service not to bring criminal charges against the police who shot Mr Menezes.

The ruling offered some hope to the Brazilian's family who had previously been denied a full appeal.

'Salt couple'

In April 2006, Lord Justice Richards quashed the convictions of Ian and Angela Gay, a couple convicted of killing the boy they wanted to adopt with a salt overdose.


Mrs Clark was eventually cleared of the crimes in 2003, but Lord Justice Richards and his colleagues ruled the evidence against her was "overwhelming" and she should stay in prison for a very long time.

Earlier in his career, he also turned down a request by British Guantanamo Bay inmate Feroz Abbasi for the UK government to intervene in his case.

Hill walking

Born in Wales, Lord Justice Richards has kept strong ties there.

He served as the presiding judge for Wales between 2000 and 2003 and also as deputy chairman of the Boundary Commission for Wales.

In Who's Who, he lists his pastimes as walking and relaxing in the Welsh hills.

His father, Alun Richards, headed the Welsh Office's Agriculture Department for three years between 1978 and 1981.

Lord Justice Richards lives in Wimbledon, south-west London.

He has been married to wife Lucy for more than 30 years and has two sons and a daughter.

BBC NEWS | UK | Profile: Lord Justice Richards

Britannist

You're welcome, Petrina .

Britannist

The Conservatives (under Major) could see that the poll tax was not popular and got rid of it. They then started to recover lost support and get better opinion poll results (in 1991 and the early part of 1992).

Gordon Brown, if he wanted to recover in the opinion polls, would call a referendum on the EU Constitution Lisbon 'Treaty' (as his party promised to do in its last General Election Manifesto), allow the establishment of an English Parliament, ditch the 42 days' detention rule and scrap the unwanted and costly ID card scheme.

I don't suppose that he will do any of these things and his failure to do so could result in Labour losing seats at the next General Election which it otherwise might hold.

Hartlepool

The letter will perhaps have been backdated.

Dont look so surprised,did you expect this lot to start playing fair this late in the game?

Geoffrey Collier

Hartlepool: If you are talking about the government, back-dating the letter will compound their problems. They must remember to post-date the letter, if they are to have any chance of perpetrating a deception.

cassie

______________________


As a matter of form and to be prudent, Wheeler should apply for an injunction!

Why should anyone accept the word of politicians elected on the basis of a manifesto commitment to hold a referendum who have reneged on that commitment! Indeed, it is that very thing which has given rise to Wheeler's legal action seeking Judicial Review in the first place.


_______________________