Boris Johnson kicked off his plan to reap revenge on the courts for embarrassing him over Brexit.
It comes after the Prime Minister risked embarrassing the Queen by forcing a shutdown of Parliament in order to push through his Brexit plan.
And today he again involved the Monarch in his feud with the judiciary, having her announce his plan to “restore the balance of power” between Parliament and the courts in the Queen’s Speech.
According to Government papers, the plan would “protect the judiciary from being drawn into political questions” and “preserve the integrity of Judicial Review for its intended purpose, which is to hold the Government and public authorities to account, apply the intent of Parliament and protect individuals’ rights”.
But the document, issued alongside the Queen’s Speech, doesn’t include details on how courts would be blocked from ruling on “political questions” - saying it would be subject to the outcome of consultation.
Last February, The Prime Minister announced a “constitution, democracy and rights commission” tasked with ensuring judicial reviews are not “abused to conduct politics by another means or to create needless delays.”
Mr Johnson was left fuming after judges unanimously ruled his plan to shut down parliament and ram his Brexit plan through was unlawful.
Judicial review (JR) is the process where members of the public can take the government to court to rule on whether their actions are lawful.
It’s a crucial power of the court system, and exists to make sure governments - however strong their hold on power - have to operate within the law.
The Conservative manifesto promised to examine the JR process to ensure it is "not abused" for political reasons.
At the time, Baroness Chakrabarti - then Shadow Attorney General - compared the plan to crack down on the courts as “like losing 11-nil in the cup final and coming with a baseball bat for the referee.”
