If it's true, White Man, then let him be convicted. If what you say reveals a crime.

Keith - first comes the question whether such "deportations" are lawful.    How much do you trust governments? I know I upset this one. And the last one. And the one before that. I am quite happy that the UK subscribes to the rule of law.

Secondly, there is a very interesting point. I was hoping to go to a dinner tonight to discuss it with an eminent academic but I did not feel well enough so did not.

Where, in English law, is the obligation to obey the ECHR?

The Human Rights Act confers certain rights but they yield to sufficiently clear primary legislation. In that ultimate eventuality the UK courts can merely issue a declaration of non-conformity.

The European Communities Act is not so limited, but European Court of Human Rights decisions are not made part of English law by the ECA unless they form part of European law. Until recently it was clear that they did not form part of the acquis communautaire. The vital question is whether recent treaty changes have changed that.

If they do, then pursuant to the doctrine of Parliamentary sovereignty, an aptly worded statute could, either by express repeal or by implied repeal, reverse that effect. The recourse of other EU nations would be under the EC treaty, which does not as such save via the ECA affect UK law.

What, then, would our masters which art in Brussels do? Send a gunboat?

What would other parties to the ECHR do?