David Allen Green

A critical and liberal look at law and policy

Of lynch-mobs and witch-hunts

How powerful people see opposition.

By David Allen Green Published 06 June 2012 11:50

Ken Clarke on Jeremy Hunt and Baroness Warsi

Tory politicians: off to the gallows? Photo: Getty Images

The Justice Secretary Ken Clarke has dismissed those scrutinizing his colleagues Jeremy Hunt and Baroness Warsi as a “lynch-mob”. Not long ago, a well-known tabloid journalist attacked those investigating newsroom excesses as conducting a “witch-hunt”.

Of course, what is going on is nothing like a lynch-mob or a witch-hunt.

Really, it is not.

There are no terrified vulnerable people being persued down country lanes by vigilantes or hooligans with cruel violence on their mind. There are no ropes thrown over branches nor any stakes placed on bonfires. There is no bloodshed.

Indeed, such stale but extreme language tells you a great deal about the mentalities of those who employ it. So unused are certain people of not getting their own way - either individually or as a class - that they can think only in terms of mobs and witch-hunters when the prospect is raised of any genuine but unwanted accountability.

So, as usual, the most revealing thing about a powerful man or woman is how they view those who can check them.

For them, the sound of awkward questions being asked is the noise of breaking glass.

One should not be surprised by their responses.

Yes, politicians from time to time may lose office; but the greater number of those who exercise actual power - civil servants, judges, police officers, and media proprietors and editors - will be quite untouched by mere elections.

They are settled in and do not like the “instability” of being confronted and challenged.

For a citizen to even directly tell a Permanent Secretary, a High Court judge, a Chief Constable, or the owner of a tabloid, that they may be wrong and culpable and should answer questions is almost unthinkable as any practical matter.

Such things do not happen, and there are various means in place to stop such impudence from occurring.

As we observe the Queen’s diamond jubilee, it is clear that the United Kingdom has fashioned a polity where many individuals who exercise power never are really challenged.

Special Offer: Get 12 issues of New Statesman magazine for just £12

More from David Allen Green

View the discussion thread.

8 comments

Wed, 2012-06-20 08:49 — P Smith (not verified)

In 1945, Winston Churchill equated those who wanted socialism to the Gestapo of Nazi Germany. He had already lost the election, but the remark certainly didn't help him and it tainted his legacy.

Overreaching accusations are the only way thugs and bullies can gain sympathy, to pretend to be "victims". It worked in for the Nazis, pretending that jews were a "threat", and has worked well in many places since.

Tue, 2012-06-19 21:44 — Emily Elizabeth Windsor-Cragg (not verified)

QUOTE--There are no terrified vulnerable people being persued down country lanes by vigilantes or hooligans with cruel violence on their mind."UNQUOTE.

Oh? Is that why Americans are purchasing guns and ammo in huge quantities, these days? (not that I have any)?

Excuse me? Clearly you have not been keeping track of "Executive Orders" out of the Oval Office and the Dept of Homeland Security procedures that are derived herefrom, in the US? You want to travel here?

It's Hitlerian, gone LIVE. Scapegoating, Star Court, trumped-up and hearsay evidence, unlimited detainment, no trial by jury or presentment of actual evidence ... not in the US. We are a Fascist state, full-blown in Law, as of recently.

Travel here at your risk. You better have YOUR PAPERS on you, and be subject to groping, delays and unregulated demands upon your person (by corporate agents).

EEWC

Fri, 2012-06-15 15:49 — David L (not verified)

Would this be the same David Allen Green who referred this morning to the "#NeverSeconds pitchfork mob"? Over-identifying with the rich and powerful perhaps?

Fri, 2012-06-15 15:48 — David L (not verified)

Would this be the same David Allen Green who referred this morning to the "#NeverSeconds pitchfork mob"? Over-identifying with the rich and powerful perhaps?

Fri, 2012-06-15 15:48 — David L (not verified)

Would this be the same David Allen Green who referred this morning to the "#NeverSeconds pitchfork mob"? Over-identifying with the rich and powerful perhaps?

Thu, 2012-06-07 14:35 — Tom Webster (not verified)

I'm afraid I need to request greater clarity from the first commentator. The initial descriptions of a 'witchhunt' are from cinema, the first being Frankenstein (no witches involved), the second from Monty Python. When it seems to shift to 'proper' history it is difficult to ascertain exactly when or where is being referred to. From the late reference to Pendle, it seems reasonable to presume s/he means England in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The 'witch-mad king' must be a reference to King James VI & I who did indeed write a book about witchcraft but belief in witchcraft was a wholly accepted part of the early modern mindset. In England when individuals were placed on trial for witchcraft according to the act of 1563, it was usually a solitary individual and the elite paid little attention beyond their role as magistrates to what were often neighbourhood disputes albeit ones with substantial consequences. The trails associated with Pendle were extraordinary and recognized at the time as anomalous. Finally, in terms of the Levenson inquiry, it was not sparked by 'one event'. There have been many efforts to contest the practices of the, as was then, the Murdoch/Maxwell press from the eighties though to the even more dangerous practices of the Murdoch empire under Blair and Cameron.

Wed, 2012-06-06 15:43 — eatplaylaw

We are all familiar with the images courtesy of Hollywood and popular entertainment of the mob with pitchforks storming Frankenstein's castle, and hopefully also acquainted with the mob dragging Connie Booth being dragged by a mob to face justice on charges on witchcraft. And yet I find a lot of the Leveson Inquiry to be very like a witch hunt. While I agree with David on the basic premise regarding lynch mobs and the use of the language by politicians to detract from accountability, I must disagree with the point about witch hunts. I think it is an apt choice of words, if used inadvertently.

It often took one event for a witch hunt to rise up: a murder, illness, or in this modern iteration the suspicion of a murdered girl's voicemail being hacked. Accusations of witchcraft were not usually isolated to one individual; once the whispers started, more often than others were accused and in turn accused in the hopes that their honesty would help spread the blame, a lot like the one rogue reporter defence. Trials were often subject to intense scrutiny by the political elites in order to ensure a result that was pleasing to the prevailing mood, be it of a witch-mad king or a public shocked more by the extent of the behaviour more than its actual existence. The testimony of witnesses could be a long process, with many being called to give evidence as to the mechanics of the wrongdoing, and more often than not the testimony of someone close to the accused providing the grounds for a verdict of guilty.

And one final point: the accused would be found guilty, the behaviour erased and those responsible purged from society. However, the causes of the initial event would remain: tensions in society, a feud or disagreement, or practices by an industry desperate to stay ahead of upcoming media channels, and attitudes/egos of owners and editors. All show with no real result; as David points out, the accountability of those responsibile is rarely addressed, but a good witch hunt always provides some sense of control and blame for a public that doesn't quite understand what has happened.

It struck me as a matter of interesting timing that the Leveson Inquiry comes on the 400th anniversary of the Pendle Witch matter, and how a lot of the 'circus' around the two is very similar. The only real difference this time is that the defenceless and the outcast aren't the ones being accused, but rather our media and political elites. And possibly fewer public hangings.