Life, liberty and terrorists

‘When it comes to the British courts,’ Charles Clarke insists, ‘I am a perpetual optimist.’ Which is fortunate, because he needs to be. We met on the day the Law Lords proclaimed that the government was not permitted to detain terrorist suspects on the basis of evidence which might have been extracted under torture. The government had been arguing that it needed to be able to use such information in court in order lawfully to detain people who were a threat to the British public. The Law Lords called that argument ‘disquieting’ and ‘disturbing’.

It was merely the latest in a series of reverses that the government’s policies to combat terrorism have suffered at the hands of the highest court in the land. Just before Charles Clarke became Home Secretary, the Law Lords delivered a blistering condemnation of the government’s policy of holding without trial foreigners suspected of terrorism. Lord Hoffmann went so far as to claim that ‘the real threat to the life of this country comes not from terrorism but from laws like these’.

What does Charles Clarke think of being responsible for ‘the real threat to the life of this country’? The charge brings another smile from this genial scion of the establishment, whose father was a senior civil servant, and who was himself educated at Highgate School and Cambridge. ‘Most people,’ he says, narrowing his eyes, ‘think that Lord Hoffmann’s judgment in that case was …shall we say …seriously ill-informed.’ I now sense the steel underneath the bouncy bonhomie. ‘Lord Hoffmann’s position is not worthy of much respect. I don’t think he represents the whole judiciary….’ He shrugs dismissively. ‘His judgment was idiosyncratic …a one-man band….’