It appears that the Rule of Law is a thing of the past in the UK:

In what the committee’s top adviser, Sir Edward Osmotherly, described as a “surprisingly frank” letter, Mr Hoon revealed that the Government did not let doubts about a legal basis stand in the way of a proposal if it was expedient on other grounds to back the measure.

In the distant past, I worked way down the chain for Sir Edward. He is upright, clever and discreet, as a Senior Civil Servant in the UK should be. Let us just say that Sir Edward’s assessment is British understatement at its best. I think the American equivalent would be, “impeachable.”