You can’t underestimate the value of good legal advice. So I hope X Factor victim Treyc Cohen has got a decent lawyer on speed dial for her eviction from the competition last weekend was nothing short of illegal.

Why? Because in refusing to cast a vote against one of her acts, Cheryl Cole was flouting the rules that govern the programme. If the show continues without addressing this problem then every subsequent decision made on The X Factor could be open to legal challenge.

Forget the tragic, teary-eyed torment of the nation’s sweetheart. The Girls Aloud singer was simply breaking the rules (as pointed out by host Dermot O’Leary). Cole had an obligation to cast her vote in the sing-off between Treyc and Katie Waissel. She didn’t, leaving it to the majority vote of the other three judges to decide her acts’ fate.

If reports are true, and the voting on Sunday night’s sing-off was stage managed to optimise its impact and Treyc actually polled three times more viewers votes than Katie, then this was clearly a cynical attempt to create controversy by the show’s producers – which also increases the prospect of success in having this legally overturned.

The decision to boot Ms Cohen off the show was unlawful. It didn’t play by the rules. It should therefore be voided as if it were never made and the programme needs to spool back to Sunday night and repeat the judging process – with our Cheryl in tow.

This might sound like highbrow legal argument, but a young girl’s future career may have been scuppered  by Cheryl’s dramatic floor show.

As well as Treyc’s missed crack at superstardom, the paying public have been robbed too. They are entitled to reimbursement. Everyone who picked up the phone to vote paid for the privilege of doing so. Yet these votes were wasted since they were not taken into consideration at the final whistle. Meanwhile the X Factor coffers continue to swell.

If the programme continues to run without redressing this problem it does so at its own peril as it’s based on a false premise. Consider this – should Katie reach the X Factor final and the programme is then confronted with a legal action by Treyc for reinstatement, and this was granted by the Administrative Court, then every decision and every vote from last Sunday onwards would be worthless. Therefore the final would not be able to take place.

How can X Factor bosses be sure that Treyc will not seek a judicial review at a timely stage  before the final show? In short, the legal ramifications for the programme makers could be massive.

Mr Cowell, don’t say I didn’t warn you

And Cheryl, pet, if you’re nursing ambitions of being a judge on American X Factor, then a word of advice. I hope you’re well insured.

The law of the land applies to MPs as well

SEEMS the disgraced ex-cabinet minister Phil Woolas will do anything to cling on to his old seat in Oldham East and Saddleworth.

However, if his legal action fails then Woolas should be made to repay his salary and expenses since his election.

He should also forfeit his gold-plated pension pot (in the same way a police officer would have to if found guilty of a criminal offence before retirement).

Additionally, the Crown Prosecution Case should consider whether there is sufficient evidence to prosecute him for fraud. Isn’t it time we demonstrated that the law of the land applies to our MPs as well as you and me.

Papa’s just an (embarrasing) Rolling Stone

MICK Jagger is one of the biggest rock stars on the planet. To millions the hip thrusting Rolling Stone is an icon. And to his teenage daughter, Georgia May…? Er, he is also ‘daggy’ - Australian slang for ‘uncool and out of touch’.

I can guess how Mick felt when he heard this.

You see, at times my daughter Sophie also finds me acutely embarrassing.

Only the other week I was thrilled to be officially named as Britain’s highest profile lawyer. And Sophie’s reaction when I told her ? “Dad, you can’t go out in those trainers. You’re so sad. How old do you think you are ?”

It seems to me that professional success and parental cool are mutually exclusive. Or maybe once a dad, always a dad. Sorry Mick.

Poppy pride not political point-scoring

THIS weekend I’ll be marking Remembrance Sunday by joining a commemorative parade, wearing my grandfather’s medals – including the L’Honneur Legionnaire, France’s highest existing honour, which he was awarded on his 100th birthday.

I think about my grandpa Manny often and his portrait hangs above my office desk.

He served in the trenches during the Great War and his eldest son Frank was killed in the Normandy landings at the tender age of 21.

It’s vital that we remember with sorrow and gratitude the supreme sacrifice made by men like this so that we can live and flourish in a free world.

So it turns my stomach that the true essence of Remembrance week has been hijacked by facile arguments about Swarovski poppies and whether newsmen should clip them to their lapels.

Of course we should buy poppies to raise money for the British Legion and as a homage to the fallen heroes of war.

But an even greater fitting tribute would be to junk the political point scoring and to focus on what really matters. Or are the PC Brigade not brave enough for that?

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