New ministers for old
What will Andy Burnham do about jury reform? And who will handle it?
David Lammy and Lord Hermer KC were just about the only senior members of Sir Keir Starmer’s government to turn up in Downing Street on Monday for the prime minister’s resignation speech. Their loyalty is both admirable and a pretty clear signal that the justice secretary and the attorney general are unlikely to keep their jobs when Andy Burnham becomes prime minister.
What will Hermer be remembered for? The one decision he owned up to in a confident and assured performance before the Commons justice committee on Tuesday was to stop using the social media platform X. He told MPs:
I can understand why other departments feel they need to be on the pitch, engaging with people, but that is not where the attorney general’s office needs to be.
I think that, for the work that I can do, I can engage with people in serious debate, detailed debate, respectful debate without being on a platform that constantly descends to racism and misogyny.
I think my department can do better than that.
I am happy to welcome Hermer to Bluesky, where he posts in his own name. But I see that attorney general’s account on X remains live, waiting for the next incumbent. Who will that be?
