Quintin Jardine's blog

Just seen the oddest thing on the One O’Clock News: a black-clad solemn woman from the Crown Prosecution Service announcing, against a background would have suited any North Korean TV studio and with the gravitas of a Taliban executioner, that Rebekah Brooks, her husband, her secretary, her security guys, her chauffeur, and the family cat (I may have misheard the last part) have been charged with attempting to pervert the course of justice, an offence that can earn its perpetrators up to ten years in the slammer. I can’t recall such a staged intimation of a prosecution before, and I cannot help wondering how it was meant to serve the interests of justice, and how it can contribute to the right of the individuals involved to a fair trial.

After the very expensive Harry Redknapp shambles, the CPS has surely laid its head on the block with this one. Did it do so because the principal accused are good friends of  the Prime Minister, or in spite of that fact? Either way, it had better win, or a few heads will be falling into the basket.