Anthony Barnett (London, OK): I am getting more than irritated by the way the government is playing with the democratic issues it says matters to it so much. First, it has cocked up citizens juries now it is gaming with citizenship. If you asked yourself who from the Blair lot is the most inappropriate person to review what it means to become a good citizen, Lord Goldsmith would be close to the top of any list. How can one trust the straightforward honesty of the man who by all accounts was pressured into changing his mind on the legality of the Iraq war, and who agreed that the inquiry into massive corruption associated with BAE Systems should be stopped just when the definitive evidence was about to come into police hands? Is this how we want the future citizens of Britain to behave? Wouldn't anyone from abroad who did things like this fall into the category of those Gordon Brown would send back to where they came from?
Having appointed the wrong man, a great opportunity occurred to reverse the decision. He took a job. On 26 September Citizen Goldsmith pocked a cool £1 million a year to become European Chair of Litigation for Debevoise & Plimpton LLP, a vast global US law firm (see this press release). His job will see him "involved in all areas of the firm's business, including international arbitration, internal investigations, English court litigation and public international law". On taking the job Citizen Goldsmith said, "I am delighted to be joining one of the world's leading international law firms and to be heading up Debevoise's high quality global litigation practice from Europe. The prospect of working as part of a global team on such high profile multi-jurisdictional cases, from inception through to resolution, is an exciting one".
Not so exciting that he can't find time to take on the job of defining the future of citizenship in this country. According to this news release published today by the Ministry of Justice, he says,
Calling a person a citizen is an important step. We accept people into our national community when we make them citizens. And, by seeking citizenship, a person expresses their desire to be a member of our community. Yet we take citizenship for granted in this country, especially when people are born with it.
This review is an opportunity to address that. Over the next few months, I am hoping to articulate more clearly the significance of citizenship, and develop recommendations to ensure that our approach to citizenship is appropriate for modern issues of migration, identity and civic participation.
Is he being paid extra, one can't help asking, or is it just evening work? At any rate either he or someone else put it differently and slightly less pompously on another part of the Justice website. Here Citizen G is quoted as saying,
Citizenship is an important common bond. We have shared rights as citizens - and shared duties as well. However, despite the importance of citizenship, it has not historically been a central element in how we talk about ourselves in the UK. [Good. You can say that again!]
This Review is an opportunity to address that. Over the next few months, I am hoping to articulate more clearly the significance of citizenship, and develop recommendations to ensure that our approach to citizenship is appropriate for modern issues of migration, identity and civic participation. I need your views in order to do this work. I hope that you will use this website to follow the progress of the Review and to tell me what you think.
Use the website! I have already blogged about how useless Justice is at at this, and how they offered an email feedback via the BBC - which I used but have never got any reply. Today, once again, they do not offer their website as a place which will host messages, questions and comments (suitably moderated). To tell Citizen Goldsmith what you think you have to email: citizenshipreview@justice.gsi.gov.uk
These are the terms of reference of Citizen Goldsmith's review:
- To clarify the legal rights and responsibilities associated with British citizenship, in addition to those enjoyed under the Human Rights Act, as a basis for defining what it means to be a citizen in Britain's open democratic society.
- To consider the difference between the different categories of British nationality.
- To examine the relationship between residence, citizenship and British national status and the incentives for long-term residents to become British citizens.
- To explore the role of citizens and residents in civic society, including voting, jury service and other forms of civic participation.
- This work will include a review of the evidence gathered in government, by among others the Commission on Integration and Cohesion, and non-government sources and will make recommendations. The review will work closely with the Youth Citizenship Commission on areas of mutual interest.
- The review will report to the Prime Minister by 31 March 2008.
Obviously just the kind of part-time exercise one needs when starting an exciting new job of global litigation. If you have a moment tell OurKingdom what you think, it won't go up for some time on the Ministry of Justice website.
