By acting ultra vires, Amber Rudd’s actions should worry anyone who believes in the rule of law

Because of Boris Johnson’s behaviour there’s one story that hasn’t received the attention it deserves and that is the story of Amber Rudd being held in contempt of court, last Thursday The Guardian reported

An asylum seeker is holed up in a hotel room in Kabul in fear for his life after the home secretary breached a high court order not to remove him from the UK and instead put him on a plane back to Afghanistan.

Samim Bigzad, 23, says he is a prime target for the Taliban because he worked in construction for the Afghan government and American companies before he sought sanctuary in the UK. 

Now he is back in Kabul he is even more fearful after a group of armed men in plainclothes arrived at the hotel on Wednesday and demanded to know his whereabouts.

Two high court judges have made separate orders calling for Bigzad to be brought back to the UK as a matter of urgency. The second states that the home secretary, Amber Rudd, is in contempt of court for breaching the first order not to remove Bigzad.

If ministers can flout the rule of law and the courts then that sets a dangerous precedent for their successors, if any Tory wants to go down the partisan route and defend Amber Rudd, just think of how you’d feel if say Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell were in government flouting the rule of law by being held in contempt of court?

Lord Falconer, a former Lord Chancellor, has written an article on this subject, the headline says it all ‘If Amber Rudd can’t explain why she defied the courts, she should go.’ If Labour had someone with more substance and nous than Diane Abbott as Shadow Home Secretary, then Amber Rudd might be in trouble to the point of resigning, however I’m going to take the 40/1 on Amber Rudd as next out of the cabinet that Paddy Power are offering.

TSE

PS – This is why I, like many others, have huge concerns about the ‘Henry VIII powers’ that the government is planning to use in the forthcoming European Union Withdrawal Bill, the executive want us to believe they will act honourably, Amber Rudd’s actions indicate the opposite.