diego garcia - high court overruled
WORKERS, SEPT 2004 ISSUE
The government has overruled a High Court judgement by using an Order in Council to legalise the continuing scandalous expulsion of the Diego Garcia islanders from their homes.
These orders are a relic of the royal prerogative whereby the Privy Council can act with no reference to parliament or the public. The Privy Council's business can be conducted by any group of ministers who are members of it — and apparently just four of them took this decision.
This Labour government has used these Orders before to give Blair's aides Alastair Campbell and Jonathan Powell their unprecedented powers to give orders to civil servants.
Labour also used an order to give Campbell the power to chair the meetings which drew up the dossier that alleged that Iraq had WMD threatening us all. In short, they are a handy means of getting your own way without that bothersome democracy getting in the way.