Dr Robert Craig

Robert Craig convenes the MA Public Law module. In previous years he has taught Jurisprudence, Law & State and Constitutional Rights at Bristol. He studied law at KCL and then undertook the BCL at Oxford. He has taught variously at KCL, City, Durham, Surrey, NCH and LSE. He focuses on Public Law generally with emphasis on constitutional law and legal philosophy. He has had articles published in the Modern Law Review, Journal of Media Law and Public Law. He recently completed a PhD at Bristol University considering the role of the Royal Prerogative in the modern UK constitution. He has provided expert commentary on BBC News, CNN, Radio 5 Live and Austrian TV on the first Gina Miller case in 2016 as well as the second in 2019.

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• 'Defendant anonymity until charge, the presumption of innocence and the taxonomy of misuse of private information', Journal of Media Law (forthcoming)

• ‘The Fixed-term Parliaments Act: Out, out brief candle’, in Richard Johnson and Yuan Yi Zhu (eds), Sceptical Perspectives on the Changing Constitution of the United Kingdom (Hart Publishing: 2023).
• Craig & Phillipson, ‘Privacy, Reputation and Anonymity until Charge: ZXC goes to the Supreme Court’, [2021] 13(2), Journal of Media Law 153-185, cited repeatedly by Counsel for ZXC in the Supreme Court hearing.
• Craig & Phillipson, ‘Protecting National Security by Breaking the Law? Prerogative, Statute and the Powers of MI5’, [2022] 85(5) Modern Law Review 1274–1288.
• ‘Open justice, free speech and privacy in the modern constitution. Khuja (formerly PNM) v Times Newspapers Limited’ [2019] 82(1) Modern Law Review 129-145.
• ‘Ouster clauses, separation of powers and the intention of parliament: from Anisminic to Privacy International’ [2018] Public Law 570-584. (cited by Dinah Rose QC in her written submissions to the Supreme Court at paragraph 129) and further cited with approval by Lord Carnwath (for the majority) in Supreme Court decision [2019] UKSC 22, [39-40].
• ‘Restoring confidence: Replacing the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011’ [2018] 81(3) Modern Law Review 480-508.
• ‘A simple application of the frustration principle: Prerogative, Statute and Miller’, [2017] Public Law (Brexit Special Issue 2017), 25-47.
• ‘Casting Aside Clanking Medieval Chains: Prerogative, Statute and Article 50 after the EU Referendum’, [2016] 79(6) Modern Law Review, 1041-1063, cited by Lord Reed in R (Miller) v Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union [2017] 2 WLR 583, at [201].
• ‘Black Spiders Weaving Webs: The Constitutional Implications of Executive Veto of Tribunal Determinations’ [2016] 79(1) Modern Law Review 166-182.

Edited blog posts and similar short submissions (each circa 3,000 words)

• Conservative Home blog on Judicial Review and Courts Act 2022 – 30 May 2022
• Written evidence to Government Call for Submissions in response to Independent Review of Administrative Law report, 29 April 2021
• Written evidence to Joint Committee on FtPA Jan 2021. My evidence was cited twice in the final report published on 23 March 2021.
• Written evidence on the Fixed-term Parliament Act 2011 for the House of Commons Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee: published 4 September 2020. My evidence was cited three times in the final report
• Lockdown: A Response to Professor King, 6 April 2020 – UK Human Rights Blog, cited by Francis Hoar (Barrister) and in Government reply to Hoar in ongoing Dolan litigation challenging the lockdown measures
• Written evidence on the Fixed-term Parliament Act 2011 for the House of Lords Constitution Committee: published 24 October 2019
• ‘R (Miller) v The Prime Minister: Article IX, Prorogation and Jurisdiction’ 17 Sep 2019, Policy Exchange
• ‘What Could Happen Next If the Government Resigns Rather than Send the Letter to the EU?’ UKCLA 11 September 2019
• ‘Proponents of the new Bill to stop No Deal face a significant dilemma over Queen’s Consent’ LSE Brexit Blog 2 September 2019 (cited by Sir William Cash in the House of Commons (https://tinyurl.com/yx8jrm7z)
• ‘Votes of No Confidence: A Route Map’, LSE Brexit Blog 28 August 2019
• ‘Judicial Review of Advice to Prorogue Parliament’ - UKCLA 12 July 2019
• ‘Lost in Transition?’ Policy Exchange – 8 July 2019, co-authored with Richard Ekins and Sir Stephen Laws QC
• Executive Versus Legislature in the UK – A Response to Mark Elliott and Tom Poole UKCLA Blog 5 April 2019
• ‘Why Royal Consent is required for the proposed Article 50 Extension Bill’ UKCLA Blog 25 February 2019
• ‘Could the Government advise the Queen to refuse Royal Assent to a backbench bill?’ UKCLA Blog 22 Jan 2019

• ‘Can the Government use the Royal Prerogative to extend Article 50?’ UKCLA Blog, 9 Jan 2019 quoted in House of Commons Briefing Paper: “Extending Article 50: could Brexit be delayed?” published 12 Feb 19
• ‘Privacy International and the separation of powers’ Admin law blog 23 Nov 2018
• ‘What Happens Constitutionally if the Draft Withdrawal Agreement Is Voted Down?’ UKCLA Blog 16 Nov 2018
• ‘The Peter Hain case: The effect of Article IX’ UKCLA Blog 31 October 2018
• ‘Could the ‘Meaningful Vote’ End up in Court?’ UKCLA Blog 24 October 2018 (with Gavin Phillipson)

• ‘New Article 50 Case Resoundingly Rejected by the Divisional Court’, UKCLA Blog 26 Jun 2018
• ‘Why Remedial Orders Altering Post-HRA Acts of Parliament Are Ultra Vires’, UKCLA Blog 21 Dec 2017 - – cited as “cogent” on page 416 of the Sir Peter Gross Independent Human Rights Act Review 14 December 2021
• ‘The Fall-out from Evans: Positioning Roszkowski and Privacy International in a Post-Evans Constitutional Landscape’, UKCLA Blog, 11 Dec 2017
• ‘Why an Act of Parliament Would Be Required to Revoke Notification under Article 50’, UKCLA Blog, 16 Oct 2017
• Privacy and the end of innocence: An alternative perspective on Khuja (formerly PNM) v Times Newspapers, INFORRM blog, 27 Jul 2017
• ‘Zombie prerogatives should remain decently buried: Repeal of the FtPA’ UKCLA Blog 24 May 2017
• ‘Reports of Proceedings: Miller v Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, Supreme Court, Days 1-4′, UKCLA. Blog, 6-14 Dec 2016 
• ‘Reports of Proceedings: Miller v Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union’, Divisional Court, Days 1-3, UKCLA Blog, 14-24 Oct 2016 
• ‘Miller: Supreme Court Case Summary’, UKCLA Blog, 26th Jan 2017
• ‘Miller: The Statutory Basis Argument: A Primer’, UKCLA Blog, 5 Dec 2016
• ‘The Abeyance Principle and the Frustration Principle’, UKCLA Blog, 16 Nov 2016
• ‘Triggering Article 50 Does Not Require Fresh Legislation’, UKCLA Blog, 8 Jul 2016

Presentations

• Staffordshire University Constitutional Statutes Conference: ‘Constitutional statutes and the doctrine of implied repeal’, 16 September 2022
• Bristol staff conference Primary Unit, ‘Constitutional statutes’, 17 June 2022
• All Party Parliamentary Group on Covid: 'The Covid regulations', July 2022
• Public Law Conference, ‘The myth of third source powers’, 8 July 2022 - Dublin
• Sceptical essays, second conference, London: ‘The Fixed-term Parliament Act: A sceptical view’ 17 January 2022
• SLS Conference 2021: ‘Prerogative, Sovereignty and the Future of Judicial Review’, 3 September 2021
• A series of round-table events at the Ministry of Justice on the Judicial Review and Courts Bill - Summer 2021
• Sceptical essays on the Constitution: ‘The Fixed-term Parliament Act: A sceptical view’, 26^th March 2021
• Law & Liberty Society, 'The politicisation of the Supreme Court' - December 2020
• Bingham Center for the Rule of Law (‘BIICL’): ‘The impact of the Miller litigation’ – 29 October 2020
• Coronavirus Conservative Public Lawyers: ‘The vires of the Coronavirus legislation’, April 2020
• Law and Liberty: ‘The politicization of the Supreme Court’ December 2019
• Study of Parliament Group January 2020 – “The emergence of a de facto judicial strike down power”.
• Expert analysis for BBC rolling news channel on Supreme Court Miller II hearing (Sep 2019)
• Dublin June 2019 - “A new definition of Constitutional Statutes”
• Ottawa Oct 2019 – Invited as an expert to conference on the royal prerogative
• ICON-S, University of Strathclyde, April 2019 – “A new definition of Constitutional Statutes”
• Law and Conservatism conference, 30 Nov 2018 – “A new definition of Constitutional Statutes”
• Cambridge Symposium on Privacy International – October 2018
• SLS Autumn conference – on Privacy International - September 2018
• ICON – Hong Kong – June 2018 – “The nature of the prerogative’
• WG Hart Conference, IALS, 12 June 2018, ‘The emergence of a de facto judicial strike down power’.
• SLS Conference, University of Sussex, Privacy International, 19 May 2018
• Durham PGR Conference (first year upgrade paper)– Rethinking the ultra vires debate – 11 May 2018
• UKCLA conference Jan 2018 – Roszkowksi and Privacy International
• ‘The Fixed-term Parliament Act: Restoring confidence’, Public law discussion group, Oxford, 30 October 2017
• Expert analysis for BBC rolling news channel on Great Repeal Bill (30 March 2017)
• Expert analysis for BBC rolling news channel on Supreme Court Miller I hearing (Dec 2016)
• ‘Still fighting the Civil War’, at a Half Day Symposium on Miller with Professor Gavin Phillipson, Professor Alison Young and Dr Mikolaj Barczentewicz at Durham University Human Rights Centre, February 2017
• ‘Article 50 and Miller’, Staff presentation at Durham University Human Rights Centre, November 2016
• ‘Article 50: Casting off clanking medieval chains’, Modern Law Review Symposium with Professor Gavin Phillipson, Professor Sionadh Douglas-Scott and Tom Hickman QC, November 2016
• ‘Defendant anonymity and the right to a fair trial’, Staff presentation at LSE, Autumn 2015.
• ‘What has Magna Carta ever done for us?’ with Professor Conor Gearty, Professor Francesca Klug, Dr Mara Malagodi – available on YouTube. June 2016

Impact and Policy Engagement

• Written evidence on the Fixed-term Parliament Act 2011 cited three times in House of Lords report
• ‘Lockdown’ Blog, cited by Francis Hoar (Barrister) and in Government reply to Hoar in ongoing Dolan litigation
• Presentation on Privacy International at Law and Liberty meeting Dec 2019
• Written evidence on the Fixed-term Parliament Act 2011 for the House of Lords Constitution Committee: published 24 October 2019
• Queen’s Consent Blog cited by Sir William Cash in the House of Commons (https://tinyurl.com/yx8jrm7z)
• ‘Lost in Transition?’ Policy Exchange – 8 July 2019, co-authored with Richard Ekins and Sir Stephen Laws QC

• Article 50 Blog quoted in House of Commons Briefing Paper: “Extending Article 50: could Brexit be delayed?” published 12 Feb 19
• Expert analysis for BBC rolling news channel on Supreme Court Miller II hearing (Sep 2019) and Miller I (Dec 2016)