Surely it would have been better for a civil servant to apply the law and administrative procedures fairly, so that justice could not only be done but be seen to be done.
One of the things that got David Blunkett (former prominent British Labour minister) into trouble, was having his private office contact the official dealing with his lovers nanny's immigration case. That resulted in an unusually speedy decision, but nowhere near as fast as the one being considered in this thread.
