Lord Goldsmith will 'not stand aside'

Attorney General, Lord Goldsmith has said it “would not be right” for him to stand aside if charges are brought in the cash for peerages investigation.

Instead the Attorney General has said, “my office should appoint independent senior counsel to review all the relevant material and advise on any prosecutions."

How independent would someone who is appointed by Lord Goldsmiths own office be? If it does get to the stage that the CPS consults the Attorney General, it will be very difficult for him to credibly advise against bringing prosecutions without being accused of bias.

Surely, it would have been sensible for Lord Goldsmith to of followed the Director of Public Prosecutions and the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police in standing aside from any involvement in the case.

Two other posts I’ve made on this subject can be found here and here.