An interview with Lord Mackay
Can a government minister protect judicial independence?
Lord Mackay of Clashfern KT, who died this week, recorded an hour-long archive interview with me in 2014 about the reforms he had introduced during his term of almost 10 years as lord chancellor. It was a fascinating conversation though, as ever, he broke no confidences.
I suggested that the constitution had become much more formalised since his retirement, particularly after the lord chancellor had ceased to select candidates for judicial appointment. Are the judiciary of today better or worse than they were when he left office in 1997, he asked himself. Mackay left the question hanging but I was in no doubt about his views.
I also asked him what he thought of then Conservative lord chancellor, Chris Grayling MP. While declining to pass judgment — he was no longer in court — Mackay questioned the recent constitutional changes under which no member of the cabinet was “expressly empowered” to represent the judges’ interests. He suggested that, as a senior member of the government, he had to some extent been able to protect legal aid.
Mackay asserted that it was still possible for a member of the government to act independently — as the law officers were expected to do. “This question of independence is very important,” he told me, “and it has to do with the quality of the individual holding the office.”
This was one of seven on-the-record interviews I recorded that autumn for the Constitution Unit at University College London as part of a major research project, published by Cambridge University Press in 2015 as The Politics of Judicial Independence. We interviewed three former chief justices and four former lord chancellors on camera: only Lord Irvine of Lairg eluded us.
All spoke on the understanding that they were being recorded “for the archive”. The interviews were made available on a university website — originally UCL and now LSE — but they were deliberately not publicised at the time.
To watch this interview, click here, scroll down until you see the image of Lord Mackay and click the image. Next, press ► to play; and then click the arrows ⤡ in the top left-hand corner to view the video in full-screen size.