The Attorney General and Contempt of Court - A Gentle Polemic

The Attorney General for England and Wales is the Government’s Senior Law Officer who, inter alia, initiates certain kinds of legal proceedings. She is also a politician, appointed to Government by the Prime Minister. In this seminar, Dr McGarry considers the Attorney General’s role in initiating contempt proceedings against fellow politicians. He examines cases where politicians have been involved in potential contempt's by publication and argues that, in such cases, the Attorney General’s position may amount to an actual or perceived conflict of interest. He further argues that the Attorney General's role in contempt cases is symptomatic of the problematic nature of the office more generally, whereby a senior political operative takes quasi-judicial decisions.