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Originally Posted by Chris
As reported by Guido, he’s the sixth this year. We’re some way beyond the point where senior establishment remainers throwing in the towel can be called a surprise. They’re shipping out as and when they finally realise that good old fashioned civil service obstructionism can’t help them water down Brexit.
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I'm surprised to see you participating so willingly in a government damage limitation exercise. This is a lawful v unlawful question, not a Remainer v Leaver debate.
Some useful thoughts from David Allen Green, a former UK government legal service lawyer.
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The resignation of Jonathan Jones as head of the UK government legal service, announced on Tuesday, has huge significance. It is at least as important as the similar resignation in 2003 of Elizabeth Wilmshurst, then a senior Foreign Office lawyer, over the legality of the Iraq invasion. In both cases, the resignation was not over the merits of a policy decision, but on the apparent willingness of the government at ministerial level to act unlawfully...
The service is indifferent to the merits of any particular policy. Indeed, many government lawyers, like others in public service, may dislike the policies with which they are dealing. This distaste, however, does not prevent their work. ..
This is not a mere difference of interpretation of the relevant law, where reasonable people can disagree. Instead, Sir Jonathan must believe the proposal must be so far outside the scope of valid legal interpretations that there can be no doubt of its unlawfulness. As Northern Ireland secretary Brandon Lewis told the House of Commons on Tuesday, the government is explicitly proposing to break international law, albeit in a “specific and limited” way.
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https://www.ft.com/content/6c3a641f-...e-16ede1656d20