Letter: MPs should save it for the judge

SO IT is now an accepted part of an MP's job to make representations to the Attorney General about prosecutions of his constituents ('Sleaze, smears, Saudis, leaks and dodgy money' 27 June), and about 200-300 such approaches are made yearly, without apparent protest by the Attorney General.

There was a time when decisions on who was to be tried for serious offences were taken on the evidence in open court. No politician would have dreamt of interfering.

This seems so long ago now, but it was only in 1985 that control of criminal prosecutions was handed over to the Civil Service. The consequent inefficiency and public discontent were correctly predicted. But I, for one, was not prepared for the law's subsequent decline into Westminster sleaze and special pleading.

I suppose a return to independent prosecutors is beyond hope. Once Whitehall gets its hands on power it never lets go.

Robert Morfee

Yeovil, Somerset