Clarke rebukes May for her comments on sex offenders’ register ruling as Tory split over human rights grows

The Conservative side of the coalition is being increasingly split by the issue of the European Convention on Human Rights.

After the Supreme Court in London declared that human rights legislation required that sex offenders had to be given a chance to take their names off the register, the Home Secretary and the Prime Minister were appalled. In a statement to the Commons, May made some trenchant criticisms of the court ruling.

This, I understand, prompted a furious letter from Clarke, the Justice Secretary, to May reminding her that she was constitutionally obliged to accept the independence of the judiciary. The letter was copied to Downing Street as the Prime Minister himself had used very similar language to May.

As Cameron tries to work out how to deal with the problems being caused by the Convention he has his hands tied by the three-way alliance between Clarke, the attorney general Dominic Grieve and the Liberal Democrats.