Authors:Legal Action Group
Created:2021-09-20
Last updated:2023-09-18
Reshuffle sees change at the top in the Ministry of Justice
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Marc Bloomfield
Description: Parliament (iStock_sedmak)
It was a case of another reshuffle, another lord chancellor, as Dominic Raab replaced Robert Buckland QC in the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) on 15 September 2021. Notably, his appointment as lord chancellor and justice secretary was reported in the press as a demotion from his previous position as foreign secretary. He will also become deputy prime minister, which may bring tensions with his role in the MoJ.
Raab will be the eighth justice secretary in just 10 years, the others being:
Robert Buckland QC: 2019–21;
David Gauke: 2018–19;
David Lidington CBE: 2017–18;
Liz Truss: 2016–17;
Michael Gove: 2015–16;
Chris Grayling: 2012–15; and
Kenneth Clarke QC: 2010–12.
Sue James, LAG CEO, remarked: ‘Robert Buckland QC, in his resignation letter to the prime minister, wrote: “Justice is beyond price.” I hope that the new minister will feel the same and call for a major investment in the justice system. It needs it!’
Lord Wolfson QC held onto responsibility for legal aid. Alex Chalk, meanwhile, was appointed as Solicitor-General, while Suella Braverman kept her position as Attorney-General.