More than a
week after Rory Stewart’s promotion to the Cabinet, the Ministry of Justice has
a Minister for Prisons and Probation. It’s former Solicitor General Robert Buckland – something of a surprise appointment.
For one
thing it looks like a demotion. The Law Officers get paid more than common or garden ministers. Maybe the delay in making the appointment has been down to
salary negotiations. We’ll find out in due course whether he’s managed to hang
on to his existing terms and conditions.
There’s a question too about how well Mr Buckland’s distinguished career as a lawyer has given him the skill set to pick up and run with Stewart’s Back to Basics agenda in prisons; or to revamp the ailing probation system. Let’s hope it has. The job specification -including prison operations and industrial relations -is certainly a demanding one.
Finally, there’s his attitude to sentencing, which will be one of his policy responsibilities in the Ministry of Justice. No doubt Mr Buckland is very knowledgeable and experienced in the field. But much of his time as Solicitor General has been spent deciding whether judges have been unduly lenient. Where he has determined they may have been, he’s personally presented almost 40 cases to the Court of Appeal, arguing for tougher sentences.
There’s a question too about how well Mr Buckland’s distinguished career as a lawyer has given him the skill set to pick up and run with Stewart’s Back to Basics agenda in prisons; or to revamp the ailing probation system. Let’s hope it has. The job specification -including prison operations and industrial relations -is certainly a demanding one.
Finally, there’s his attitude to sentencing, which will be one of his policy responsibilities in the Ministry of Justice. No doubt Mr Buckland is very knowledgeable and experienced in the field. But much of his time as Solicitor General has been spent deciding whether judges have been unduly lenient. Where he has determined they may have been, he’s personally presented almost 40 cases to the Court of Appeal, arguing for tougher sentences.
How well will Mr Buckland gel with new boss David Gauke who has urged caution in continuing to increase sentence length as a response to concerns over crime? The Justice Secretary has urged “those who shape the system to ask fundamental questions such as whether our approach to sentencing reduces crime, if prisons currently maximise the chances of rehabilitation and if we should look at better alternatives to punish and rehabilitate offenders”.
That’s not something Mr Buckland has had cause to do much of in his last job and I have sometimes winced at the way he has taken credit for harsher sentencing outcomes -putting out press notices such as “Workplace groper ordered to serve community after Solicitor General intervenes” and “Burglar jailed after Solicitor General’s intervention.”
Maybe Mr Buckland was just doing his job. And now he has a different one .
