Stuart Weir & Andrew Blick (Cambridge & London, Democratic Audit): Lawyers have joined judges as scapegoats for politicians who wish to protect either themselves or the state from being made answerable to people whom they abuse or neglect. In an interview with Society Guardian today, health secretary Alan Johnson said Gordon Brown's plans for an NHS constitution should not be enshrined in legislation. Why not? Because if patients got statutory rights, they might seek to uphold them in the courts. He explained, "I don't want the constitution to give lots of work for the lawyers so that the NHS spends more time in court and less on treating people." Duh! He is obviously unaware of the importance of rights under the Human Rights Act that organisations like the British Institute for Human Rights have used to obtain decent treatment for vulnerable people in care homes and the like, without necessarily employing lawyers or taking cases to court.
Quite why he wasn't pressed on the proper balance to be held between ensuring that people can gain redress when their rights are violated and the danger of some lawyers gaining extra work, I am not sure. But let's be fair. Perhaps it is a first sign that members of a government that has shown itself to be entirely relaxed about the huge rewards that hosts of professionals, executives, footballers and others grab for themselves are becoming uncomfortable with the huge incomes gap between the rich and poor
