Examination of Witnesses (Questions 140-144)
RT HON
LORD BINGHAM
OF CORNHILL
25 MAY 2004
Q140 Chairman: Perhaps that is an unfair
question to put to a person personally involved.
Lord Bingham of Cornhill: No,
it is not an unfair question. I would actually be rather against
that because I think the notion of the Lord Chancellor comes with
a lot of baggage and everybody who knows anything knows that the
Lord Chancellor has a political dimension and one of the things
we will want to try to make as plain as can be is that the President
of the Supreme Court would have no political dimension whatever,
so I think there are disadvantages about that.
Q141 Keith Vaz: When you were last here,
I asked you a question about diversity and the ability of the
new Commission to ensure that the vision of the judiciary which
was representative of society as a whole meant that we had more
women, more black and Asian judges and indeed perhaps a black
or Asian person sitting in the Supreme Court. Your answer to me
was that you felt that any committee would be suitably qualified
to make those judgments. I then put it to you that the merit principle
is sometimes as a means of preventing people of calibre from being
appointed. I do not know whether you have seen the very interesting
paper produced by Thomas Legg on a definition of what is merit
where he set out his views in a speech in Cambridge as to what
is the minimum qualification and what is the maximum qualification
for someone to be appointed. Have you seen that paper?
Lord Bingham of Cornhill: I read
a lecture which he gave in Manchester a year or two ago and it
may be that it is the same lecture.
Q142 Keith Vaz: When do you foresee someone
who is of Afro-Caribbean origin or Asian origin sitting in the
Supreme Court because under the present system this is going to
take a very long time indeed?
Lord Bingham of Cornhill: Well,
I recall being asked the question not so long ago, "When
do you envisage there being the first female Lord of Appeal in
Ordinary?", and I replied that I would be amazed if it did
not happen within five years. I pitched it at five years because
I did not want to excite anybody unduly, but in fact I think it
was probably two or three years ago that I said that.
Q143 Keith Vaz: So what is your timescale?
Lord Bingham of Cornhill: It would
be longer. On the other hand, I can immediately think of several
people of outstanding ability belonging to minority communities
who again I would be astonished not to see holding very high office
when they are a bit older.
Q144 Chairman: Well, thank you very much
indeed. I think we will probably meet again because this show
is going to run and run and certainly this Committee hope to assist
the process of getting the right answers and getting a carefully
considered outcome, so we are very grateful for your help in that.
Lord Bingham of Cornhill: Well,
if any of us can help you at all, let us know because we would
very much like to do that.
Chairman: Thank you very much.
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