Appendix 3
Copy of a letter from Rt Hon Lord Falconer of
Thoroton, Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs and Lord
Chancellor, to Rt Hon Alan Beith MP, Chairman, Constitutional
Affairs Select Committee
Thank you for your letter of 20 November 2006 —
copied to the Attorney General —regarding the role of the
Attorney General in any decision relating to prosecution under
the 1925 Honours Act.
The Attorney General has since replied to you, enclosing
his letter of 7 November to the Shadow Attorney General which
deals with the question of how his role would be discharged in
the event of his being consulted by the CPS about a prosecution
in this case, whilst emphasising that the issue remains wholly
hypothetical at this stage.
The Attorney General refers in his letter of 7 November
to my statement before the Committee that decisions taken by the
CPS and the DPP would be taken in the "normal way".
He notes that it would be normal practice for him to be consulted
by the OPS in relation to serious or sensitive cases. He also
notes that it would be quite normal in such cases to take the
advice of independent counsel, and that, should there come a time
where the CPS consult him on a prosecution in this case, this
is the course he would adopt.
As I have since stated publicly, my statement before
your Committee that the case would be dealt with in the normal
way without interference from the Attorney General is consistent
with the process set out by the Attorney General in his recent
statements. As the Attorney General has made clear, the DPP himself
would not in fact be consulted or take any decision in this case
since he has stepped aside from any personal involvement in it.
I am copying this letter to the Attorney General,
6 December 2006
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