Hopes were high when it was announced that criminal barrister and former Tory MP Jerry Hayes was to appear on Question Time last night.
The man who has helped rally the Bar against the government via his excellent blog would now take this message to the country on national TV. Well, that was the plan…
This man: @jerryhayes1 wrote this jerryhayes.co.uk/posts/2013/04/… and tonight he is on @bbcquestiontime. Let’s hope he gets chance to argue the case!
— Manc Barrister (@MancBarrister) May 9, 2013
Unfortunately, it didn’t turn out that way.
After Hayes’ plea on behalf of criminal lawyers fell flat with the audience, he decided to use his 15 minutes of fame to articulate a bizarre argument about rape.
“It’s not rape if it doesn’t get convicted” – ladies and gentlemen, the practising barrister Jerry Hayes.
— Elliott Lauder(@Ehlliott) May 9, 2013
Jerry Hayes apparently thinks 90k women a year make false rape allegations. This kind of attitude is reason for victim anonymity #bbcqt
— Tanya Palmer (@TanyaVPalmer) May 9, 2013
Cue mass Twitter rage, as “Jerry Hayes” began trending nationally and the country rushed to lampoon the Argent Chambers barrister.
Awesome audience member *actually* facepalmed at Jerry Hayes’s idiocy. And now she’s taking him down nicely too. Respect! #bbcqt
— Owen Blacker (@owenblacker) May 9, 2013
At which point even fellow members of the Bar turned against Hayes.
At the risk of huge backlash, I thought Jerry Hayes was awful. Message hopelessly lost in hysterical delivery. We need cool heads now and >
— Mukul Chawla QC (@MChawlaQC) May 9, 2013
Barbara Hewson. Jerry Hayes. Proving, beyond reasonable doubt, that there’s good reason barristers are not allowed to deal with the public.
— Andrew Brooks (@taxbod) May 10, 2013
Oh good. Jerry Hayes and that idiot from hardwicke are out there representing the bar. We are completely useless at PR.
— London Barrister (@Forthedefence5) May 9, 2013
I bet Chris Grayling and the boys at G4S slept soundly last night.