Alex Norris MP has been appointed as the new Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice, as new Prime Minister Andy Burnham carried out a sweeping reshuffle of the Cabinet that saw 10 ministers relegated to the backbenches.
Those included former deputy prime minister and justice secretary David Lammy MP, and Lord Hermer KC, the previous Attorney General.
Burnham on Monday (20 July) replaced barrister Sir Kier Starmer KC MP as Britain’s fifth prime minister in four years.
Lammy, the first Black person to be foreign and justice secretaries, said it was the “great privilege of my life” to serve in Starmer’s government, and told social media: “I would have been proud to continue serving in Cabinet. But a new prime minister is entitled to build his own team, and I wish Andy Burnham and the new Cabinet every success.”
Lammy’s tenure was marked by controversial proposed reforms to jury trials, which were heavily opposed by the Bar Council and Law Society, as well as promoting English law more widely. He also shone a greater spotlight on judicial diversity, setting up a joint board chaired by him and the Lady Chief Justice.
Among one of his last acts was to approve the appointment of the new chair of the Judicial Appointments Commission, Lynne Berry CBE.
Lammy was replaced by Nottingham North MP Alex Norris, the former border security and asylum minister, as Lord Chancellor and justice secretary.
A non-lawyer, Norris is the 10th politician to hold the role in as many years, with Lammy and Shabana Mahmoud, who retained her role as home secretary, holding that post during the Starmer administration. The last non-lawyer to hold the post was Sir David Lidington, in 2017, following Liz Truss’s short tenure.
Also exiting the Cabinet was Starmer’s former roommate at Doughty Street Chambers, Lord Hermer KC, who wrote on LinkedIn: “I’ve been so lucky to be a part of Keir’s team, as he delivered for the public at home while rebuilding the UK’s reputation abroad, in particular on the rule of law.”
He added: “I am particularly proud of the Hillsborough Law, which will be a truly radical transformation in the relationship between those who govern and the people they serve.”
Hermer exited the role after he was criticised last Friday by the Lady Chief Justice, Baroness Carr, in a supplementary judgment related to a child rape trial in which she said Hermer should have publicly corrected reporting errors amid personal attacks on the trial judge.
Carr noted: “No one within government has said publicly, even now, that the attacks on the judge were improper and a threat to the independence of the judiciary.”
Hermer’s spokesman said: “At every turn this attorney has been a staunch defender of the independence of the judiciary and has publicly commented numerous times on his concerns about attacks on judges.”
Hermer was replaced by his deputy, Solicitor General Ellie Reeves KC MP. Reeves is the third person to hold that role in two years, following Lucy Rigby KC, who has lost her job as chief secretary to the Treasury to Emma Reynolds, and Sarah Sackman KC, who, at the time of writing, remains courts minister.
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