Jacob Rees Mogg on the Jury system(after the Colston 4 verdict)’the great, sublime protector of our liberties’. House of Commons 6th January
Following the acquittal of the Colston 4 on 5th January there has been an almost Trumpian outcry amongst some Tory MPs and right-wing media that while the rule of law is all very well if a jury finds in a case in a way they don’t like then it doesn’t apply.
It reflects the nursery politics of a good deal of the Tory right in 2022. Jacob Rees Mogg in my view is hardly ever right about anything but he defended the jury system 3 times in the Commons on 6th January (below).
No doubt Rees Mogg as he hints was no happier with the Colston verdict than the Daily Heil is. He is however an astute enough ruling class politician to grasp that in general the current legal system protects mainly the interests of the rich and powerful in society. If those who say they believe in the rule of law start to undermine it, who knows where that will lead- class war perhaps…
One of the great glories of this nation is the jury system. It is worth bearing in mind that Magna Carta was viewed as a reconfirmation of rights, not a creation of rights. Juries must be free to come to the decisions they choose to come to on the facts that are in front of them in relation to a specific case, and on what they hear from the prosecuting counsel, the defence counsel and the judge. We should always glory in the jury system as one of the foundation stones of our liberties in this country, whether we like individual judgments or not.
I do not think the result in Bristol does do that, because the decision does not set a precedent. It was a case decided by a jury on the facts before them. I shall therefore not be going out of here immediately afterwards and drawing a moustache on the statue of Oliver Cromwell outside, much though I am opposed to regicides in principle and think that they deserve to be removed from pedestals broadly speaking. I think we should recognise our history even when the figures in that history are not ones that we individually admire. Our island story is a complex one, and there are varieties in all people of good intentions and less pure intentions. My hon. Friend is right that we should protect monuments and that they should be removed only by a due process, but one of our greatest monuments is the jury system, which is the great, sublime protector of our liberties.
I am going to come back to the jury system in, I hope, giving some reassurance to my hon. Friend, because it is an ancient right and a great protector of freedom. That does not mean that every decision made by every jury is one that is welcomed by some people in some circumstances, but it is such an important protector of our liberties that we must take the rough with the smooth.
Hansard 6th January 2022
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