Harman: Attorney general and cabinet should be separate
Constitutional affairs minister Harriet Harman has said she feels the attorney general and the cabinet must be kept separate to promote public trust.
The role as the chief legal advisor of the Crown in England and Wales is currently filled by Lord Goldsmith, for whom Ms Harman says she has “nothing but respect for”.
However the former solicitor general believes the attorney general needs to be kept separate from cabinet in order to increase the public’s trust in government.
“This attorney has started attending cabinet. I don’t think it’s a good idea for the attorney to be in cabinet,” she told the Financial Times.
Ms Harman added: “If we’re looking afresh at how we would do it, I wouldn’t have the attorney in cabinet.”
Illustrating her point, Ms Harman told the newspaper: “You’ve got to both have your head in a different place and be seen to have your head in a different place.”
Lord Goldsmith’s advice has been linked to a number of controversial cases, including his advice on the Iraq war. Differences between legal advice on the war in a first leaked memo and the final advisory document to government led to allegations that political pressures caused Lord Goldsmith to find legal justification for the use of force in Iraq.
The accusations have been denied by the current attorney general who asserts that the two documents are legally consistent.
