Former top judge laments ‘personal vilification’ of judges after Prince Harry ‘whitewash’ claim

A former lord chief justice of England and Wales has issued a stark warning against the “vilification” of judges, describing it as a “direct assault on the independence of the judiciary“.

Lord Burnett of Maldon, who led the judiciary from 2017 to 2023, told the House of Lords on Thursday that the independence of the courts was paramount.

His remarks follow the Duke of Sussex’s strong criticism of a High Court ruling. Prince Harry had labelled the decision in his privacy case against Associated Newspapers, publisher of the Daily Mail, as “a complete and obvious whitewash”.

Harry, along with six other claimants including Sir Elton John, had alleged the newspaper illegally obtained information via phone hacking, bugging, and blagging.

However, Judge Mr Justice Nicklin concluded that the claimants failed to prove their allegations.

He said judges needed to “resist all pressure” from politicians, the press, large corporations, trade unions, activists and campaigners.

Lord Burnett said: “Judicial independence is undermined when judges are attacked personally for a decision, or their integrity is impugned.

“An expression of disagreement with the outcome of a case is entirely unobjectionable, but the growth of personal vilification, in which, regrettably, from time to time politicians have joined, crosses the line into a direct assault on the independence of the judiciary.

“Examples are multiplying, and even this week, a High Court judge has been accused by disappointed litigants of ‘a complete and obvious whitewash’.

“Judges speak through their judgments and cannot answer back.

“That is why the Constitutional Reform Act imposes duties on the lord chancellor to defend the independence of the judiciary.

“The (Constitution) Committee recognised that a culture of hostility towards the judiciary has been allowed to develop in recent years because of inappropriate, often inaccurate public criticism by politicians and others, with inadequate defence from government.”

His comments came as peers debated the Constitution Committee’s report titled The Rule Of Law: Holding The Line Against Tyranny And Anarchy.

A member of the committee, independent crossbench peer Baroness Andrews, warned that disrespect for the law had “been emboldened” since the Covid-19 pandemic, alluding to the partygate scandal being part of the reason for that.

She said: “Evidence suggests that disrespect for the law has been emboldened since Covid, with the paradox of draconian legislation, which was felt by many not to have been evenly applied.”