Terrorism Bill

My Lords, first, our thoughts go out to Lord Ackner’s family, to whom we extend our deepest condolences. Lord Ackner had probably the most well-defined personality in your Lordships’ House. I find it impossible to believe that he will no longer be here to make one of his characteristically disintegrating observations about the intentions or negligence of the government of the day. Lord Ackner freely admitted that he was not a candidate for the diplomatic corps. In his ferociously uncompromising search for the truth, he took no prisoners. Above all, he was merciless in his defence of this nation’s hard-won freedoms. He was a cartographer whose maps contained no middle ground. In that respect there was much of the 17th century about him. Yet, there was nothing, there, cold or hard. He was, on the contrary, an immensely warm man, deeply loyal to his friends and passionately attached to Mr Burke’s small platoons—to his school, to his college, to his Inn of Court and, of course, to your Lordships’ House. Of all the qualities that Lord Ackner brought to the Bench—including a voracious appetite for work, a forensic mind of deep penetration, a wry self-deprecating sense of humour and a formidable grasp of the common law—what marked him out above all was his humanity. This was manifested in so many ways that an attempt to catalogue them would present an impossible task. But one particular theme dominates throughout. He was intensely protective of the rights of the criminally accused, and watched with growing dismay their remorseless erosion over the past 20 years. Lord Ackner had a deep respect for the traditions and hierarchy of the Bench and Bar, albeit on occasions disproportionately. A few years ago, I recall asking him whether he would try and influence the noble and learned Lord, Lord Simon of Glaisdale, about some legislative matter. At that time Lord Ackner was in his early 80s and the noble and learned Lord, Lord Simon, in his early 90s. Lord Ackner’s response to me I recall verbatim: ““Oh, I couldn’t possibly do that, old boy. I’m far too junior””. Although increasingly infirm, Lord Ackner’s mind remained, as all your Lordships know, razor sharp, and his appetite for work seemingly insatiable. They say that none of us is indispensable; but in your Lordships’ House Lord Ackner is as near indispensable as makes no difference.