Byline: PETER MCKAY
COMMON sense suggests it would be unwise for a Prime Minister to select as his Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs a man with whom he once shared a flat, a crony without obvious qualifications for the job.
However, that's what happened when Tony Blair picked his lawyer friend Charlie Falconer.
If Lord Falconer of Thoroton (as he became) possesses other qualities which would commend him as a senior government minister to other premiers, these have not come to light.
Neither has Falconer - a former minister for the Millennium Dome - ever felt it necessary to put himself up for election to see if the electorate shares the Prime Minister's confidence.
So it's fitting that the ministry he now runs has phased out any reference to 'common sense' in its latest advice to those selecting England and Wales's 28,000 magistrates.
A spokesman for Lord Falconer says: 'Common sense has been removed from the new draft guidelines because it can mean different things to different people, depending on their background.' Well, of course. To lawyers, common sense is an abstract notion. They make their money by interpreting the law in their clients' favour, not by using common sense.
For this Government, common sense is seen as an obstructive force. It's based on settled opinions arrived at over …
