That soundest of legal chaps, Dominic Grieve QC MP, has landed parliament’s top job for sound chaps.

The former attorney general was elected last week as chairman of the intelligence and security committee, the official secrecy-bound body supposed to keep tabs on the nation’s spooks.  

Grieve’s appointment is seen in Westminster as a consolation prize for the chairmanship of the commons justice committee, where he might have made life a little too uncomfortable for his old colleagues. Especially when it comes to the British bill of rights, the cause of Grieve’s replacement as attorney general.

Grieve’s successor in that role, Jeremy Wright QC, was quizzed on just that topic at a packed session of the justice committee last week. The session was supposed to be on the role of the attorney general, but the room emptied noticeably after questions moved on from drone strikes in Syria and the Human Rights Act.

‘Wright Stuff’ wasn’t giving much away. The closest any MP came to a hit was when Scottish Nationalist Richard Arkless (whose appointment raised Obiter’s eyebrows back in July) asked him whether his advice on the drone strikes was a blanket policy or ‘case by case’.

‘Nice try,’ was Wright’s thoroughly sound response.

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