Shadow justice secretary Sadiq Khan nominates the bête noir of much of the legal profession to take a drenching — while other luminaries are also in the spotlight
Every legal aid lawyers’ dream is about to come true — well, if not exactly come true, then at least it’s been vocalised.
Sadiq Khan, Labour’s shadow justice secretary, got on board the ice bucket challenge today, and while standing dripping wet outside Tooting Broadway Underground station in south London, he nominated Chris Grayling to follow suit.
The Conservative Secretary of State for Justice — who also still travels under the increasingly arcane title of Lord Chancellor — has been paraded in effigy over the last few months for what many lawyers decry as a brutal and cynical hacking of criminal legal aid budget.
How successfully Labour’s Khan has been in the front line of protest against the cuts is a point of some conjecture. But today he gritted his teeth and took a drenching — although, to be fair, it’s difficult to see much ice in the YouTube clip.
In addition to nominating the former BBC man and the first non-lawyer Lord Chancellor, Khan also put London mayor and recently-announced parliamentary candidate Boris Johnson in the ice bucket frame.
Elsewhere in the legal firmament, Richard Doughty, public affairs officer at the Chartered Institute of Legal Executives, nominated outgoing Law Society chief executive Des Hudson, the Bar Council’s top executive, Stephen Crowne, and CILEX’s own chief, Diane Burleigh, who is also soon to stand down.
Relative to Khan’s performance outside the Tube station, there appeared to be much more ice in evidence when Doughty took his drenching — and more buckets.
So far, none of those lucky nominees has declared their intention to get wet.
Further reading:
The Ice Bucket Challenge reaches the legal profession at last [Legal Cheek]