Move On.

It’s often the necessary but sometimes ugly duty of opposition frontbenchers to call for the resignation of government ministers when they are seen to be sitting on top of a systemic failure in their department. Ministers are not allowed to be ignorant of anything on their watch. It’s all part and parcel of the cut and thrust (to mix a couple of clichéd old metaphors) of politics. So where are the calls for Keir Starmer to resign? He was the Director of Public Prosecutions when DNA evidence was revealed which showed that Andrew Malkinson, wrongly imprisoned for 17 years for a rape he didn’t commit was found. It seems the Crown Prosecution Service chose to do nothing with this info. This was a classic systemic failure. How else to describe it? So do a Google search ‘Starmer Malkinson’ and what do you get? Nothing from Starmer. This is curious because (Lord) Ken MacDonald, Starmer’s predecessor as DPP, on the BBC’s PM programme this evening clearly stated that the DNA evidence was revealed in 2009 under Starmer’s watch. But the first hit of my Google search, a Sky News story, ( Andrew Malkinson: Police and CPS 'knew another man's DNA was on the clothes of the woman he was convicted of raping 13 years before he was released' | UK News | Sky News ) suggests the evidence was available in 2007, whilst MacDonald was still in charge. Yet MacDonald was keen to suggest none of this happened under his watch and he insisted it wouldn’t have reached his desk anyway. He said it was under Starmer’s watch.

So an innocent man who had already spent years in prison wasn’t worth the attention of the Director whoever it was. That was MacDonald’s defence of his successor. Perhaps Sir Keir should step up and tell us what he knows. So far he appears to be keeping schtum. Thus I, in the tradition of His Majesty’s Opposition say ‘Own up and resign!’ although it’s not clear to whom this demand needs to be addressed. That in itself tells us something about the unwritten code of conduct of our superiors. Yes, and neither MacDonald or Starmer are in a position to resign from the DPP job. That’s where the old political get out of jail free clause comes in handy: 'Move On.'