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Army: Advice of Attorney-General

My Lords, very sincerely I thank all noble Lords who have contributed to this debate, which has been good-humoured and very constructive. Certain parts of the construction would not appeal to the noble and learned Lord, Lord Goldsmith, but one or two building blocks are left standing and there is one, of course, to which my noble friend Lord Kingsland referred, that will not go away. That is the core of the substance of the proposal, which was spoken to by my noble and learned friend Lord Mackay of Clashfern within, I think, a minute and a half’s speech. He took the main point, or the essence, which will not go away. As my noble friend Lord Kingsland rightly said, that will have to be considered by the House on another occasion, and everything that has been said in this Motion today will be of the greatest possible assistance, certainly to me. On the related matter, of course I am concerned with the narrow category of cases to which the noble and learned Lord referred. Like my noble friend Lord Kingsland, I am surprised that the noble and learned Lord, Lord Goldsmith, would not be grateful to have the questions of whether it is a matter of public interest or whether any form of political interest is involved decided by a judge because that would totally remove any unhappy or unacceptable thoughts or assertions. I cannot see why there should be any objection to that, and I can see every reason why it should be decided by a judge in the very few cases in which it arises. In those cases, which are important, it is only fair and just that the man or woman and the regiment should have a fair opportunity of objection. I thank my noble and learned friends Lord Mayhew of Twysden and Lord Lyell of Markyate for their experience, having served as Attorney-General, and for what they said, which, when read, will I think convince people that, frankly, things are not all right. The noble and learned Lord, Lord Goldsmith, thinks that they are all right. He thinks that in fact there would be some form of derogation of great importance from his authority, but that would not be the case. What is proposed is only in relation to the transfer of very important cases, which is being done, has been done and, with respect, should not be done in future. I thank all noble Lords and beg leave to withdraw the Motion for Papers. Motion for Papers, by leave, withdrawn.