Oops. Gordon Brown's moral compass is on the blink again

By David Higgerson on Sep 22, 09 05:40 PM

IT really should be quite simple. If, as Gordon Brown and co promised during the expenses scandal, that they are determined parliament should reflect better the real world outside, then there shouldn't be a debate about Baroness Scotland.

If any of us worked as employers and we employed people who legally weren't allowed to be in this country and were subsequently prosecuted by the UK Borders Agency for breaking the law, then we'd, in all probability, be sacked.

But not if you're the attorney general, it seems.

Regardless of whether or not she actually helped pass the law which meant that not having proof of checks was enough to be prosecuted is neither here nor there.

Here we have someone who admits to have broken the law, employing an illegal immigrant as cleaner, and who has been fined £5,000 as a result.

She's one of the most senior legal figures in the country. She helps pass laws. Hell, she helps write them. So for those around her, including several leading Labour ministers, to try and hide her behind the "oh, you know, she just didn't photocopy the documents, but she did do the checks" excuse simply isn't on.

If that excuse was acceptable, then she would not have been prosecuted. (Though quite why a government department had the power to be judge, jury and, metaphorically, executioner is beyond me - I thought we had courts for that). She'd have had a ticking off, that's it.

But for a person involved in law making to fall foul of a technicality tells us all we need to know - she simply shouldn't keep her job.

As those meerkats say on the telly: seemples.

And Baroness Scotland isn't stupid. She must realise how she looks. She must also realise there's a safe bet she won't be in the same job after next May - so why not go now?

At a time when Gordon Brown is busy talking about taking swift and decisive action and telling us we can trust him to the run country, we're suddenly expected to trust the legal system in the hands of someone who falls foul of it herself?

The critcism from the opposition benches has been muted too. Even those calling for her to go caveat it with the phrases: "I have a lot of respect for Baroness Scotland" or "I like Baroness Scotland a lot" or "There's no doubting the good work..."

In other words, if she was less popular or less liked they'd be calling for her head in a much louder voice.

Has anything really changed in this old boys' club?