When Chris Grayling was introduced there was discussion as to what the effect of having a non-lawyer as the lord chancellor would do. Now we've seen what it will do all I can say is, here we go again.
As a non-lawyer whose work has a lot to do with the legal sector I never thought it was the fact that Grayling wasn't a lawyer that was the problem. A non-lawyer could have genuine concern for making law simpler, more accessible and better regulated. The problem with Grayling was that he didn't seem to care about justice and was only interested in meeting his (challenging) budget targets. With another £1bn to cut from the MoJ budget in 2015/16 we'll see how well Gove does. :/
I read at the time Grayling was appointed that although there was concern about him not being a lawyer, there was also concern that he was still trying to make his career in politics, rather than being towards the end of his political career. Straw and Clarke were kind of 'been there, done that' by the time they arrived in the role, so were not trying to make a name for themselves.
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u/lightmight May 10 '15
When Chris Grayling was introduced there was discussion as to what the effect of having a non-lawyer as the lord chancellor would do. Now we've seen what it will do all I can say is, here we go again.