New Lord Chancellor

11 June 2017

Leader of the Commons, David Lidington, has today been appointed Lord Chancellor.

Following last week’s election results the Prime Minister, Theresa May, has moved Liz Truss from her role as Secretary of State for Justice and appointed her as Chief Secretary to the Treasury. Ms Truss was heavily criticised by the senior judiciary – including by the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Thomas, when addressing the House of Lords Justice committee – for her failure to condemn tabloid attacks on the judges presiding over the Brexit challenge in the High Court. In a pre-election “manifesto” the Bar Council had urged her replacement.

The new Lord Chancellor, David Lidington, has most recently served as Leader of the Commons and Lord President of the Council. David LiddingtonAnother non-lawyer, he has at least some knowledge of the legal system; having written a History PhD thesis while at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge entitled “The enforcement of the penal statutes at the court of the Exchequer c.1558-c.1576”.

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