Norris: Fifth non-lawyer to hold the post
A former trade union organiser with no legal background was yesterday named as the new Lord Chancellor and secretary of state for justice.
Alex Norris, the MP for Nottingham North and Kimberley, replaced David Lammy, who was sacked by Andy Burnham as the new prime minister shaped his cabinet.
Mr Norris moved from Manchester to Nottingham in 2003 to study and in 2011 became a councillor on Nottingham City Council.
He served as an executive councillor for adults and health, and was also an organiser for Unison, as well as an activist for the GMB.
He was first elected in 2017 and while in opposition served as a shadow minister covering a range of briefs, including international development, levelling up, and policing. During the Covid pandemic, he was the shadow minister for prevention, public health and primary care.
After Labour came to power, he was appointed a junior minister at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, responsible for building safety, fire and local growth, before becoming a minister of state at the Home Office last September, where he held the border security and asylum brief.
Mr Norris is the fifth non-lawyer to hold the role of Lord Chancellor after Conservatives Chris Grayling, Michael Gove, Liz Truss and David Liddington between 2012 and 2018. Since then, there have been seven lawyers.
Writing on X, Bar Council chair Kirsty Brimelow KC said she had met him a few months ago when it invited him to visit Nottingham Crown Court.
“He spent time and engaged with and listened to barristers in the robing room. He also saw the court’s disrepair,” she said.
Former Conservative minister Anna Soubry, now head of chambers at KCH Garden Square, wrote that it was “a good appointment”, especially as Mr Norris had “listened and engaged” with criminal barristers during the visit to Nottingham.
“Hopefully he agrees that scrapping jury trials is a bad idea that won’t reduce the backlog,” she said.
Meanwhile, Ellie Reeves KC has been promoted from Solicitor-General to Attorney General after Lord Hermer left the government.
Ms Reeves qualified as a barrister but practised as an employment solicitor at London law firm OH Parsons, latterly as a partner, and also Thompsons, before setting up her own consultancy advising women facing maternity and discrimination issues.
The new Solicitor-General and appointments to the junior ranks of the Ministry of Justice will be announced in the next day or so.
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