Lammy: First government role was at MoJ’s predecessor 22 years ago
The government reshuffle has seen two new junior ministers at the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) – both lawyers replacing non-lawyers – alongside David Lammy’s appointment as Lord Chancellor and justice secretary.
Mr Lammy, who has moved from the Foreign Office and is now also deputy prime minister after Angela Rayner’s resignation, is the 12th person to lead the MoJ since the 2010 election – Dominic Raab had two spells in the post – following Shabana Mahmood’s promotion to the Home Office.
Mr Lammy was called to the Bar in 1994 and elected to Parliament in 2000, at the age of 27. His first ministerial role was at the MoJ’s predecessor, the Department for Constitutional Affairs, from 2003 to 2005.
In 2016 to 2017, he was commissioned by the MoJ to lead an independent review into treatment and outcomes of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic people in the criminal justice system, while his first role under Keir Starmer’s leadership was as shadow Lord Chancellor.
Mr Lammy is also an associate tenant at Doughty Street Chambers in London.
Meanwhile, Sir Nic Dakin, who was the junior minister with responsibility for sentencing and youth justice among other areas, has been appointed a whip and replaced by Jake Richards, MP for Rother Valley.
Mr Richards was a barrister at Deka Chambers until last year’s election, where he specialised in civil litigation, public law and family law. He will split his time with a separate role as an assistant whip.
The MoJ’s representative in the House of Lords, Lord Ponsonby of Shulbrede, has left government and been replaced by Baroness Levitt KC.
As Alison Levitt, she was called in 1988 and became a KC in 2008, practising in criminal law. From 2009-14, she was principal legal advisor to Sir Keir Starmer when he was the Director of Public Prosecutions.
She then joined London law firm Mishcon de Reya as a partner to set up its white-collar crime and investigations department, before returning to the Bar in 2018 at 2 Hare Court. She became a circuit judge in 2021 until she was appointed a life peer last December.
Both are parliamentary under-secretaries of state, the same level as non-lawyer Alex Davies-Jones, who continues at the MoJ.
Also still there are minister of state Sarah Sackman, a barrister who joined last December after a short spell as Solicitor General when Heidi Alexander was promoted to the cabinet, and Lord Timpson, the minister of state for prisons and probation.
How the various MoJ briefs are divided between the ministers has yet to be confirmed. The initial MoJ line-up after last year’s election had no lawyers except for Ms Mahmood.
There has also been a change of Solicitor General again, with Lucy Rigby promoted to economic secretary to the Treasury and replaced by Ellie Reeves, who had been chair of the Labour Party and minister without portfolio attending the cabinet.
Ms Reeves qualified as a barrister but practised as an employment solicitor at OH Parsons, latterly as a partner, and also Thompsons, before setting up her own consultancy advising women facing maternity and discrimination issues. She had a spell as shadow Solicitor General in 2021.
Ellie Reeves is described as practicing as a solicitor but there doesn’t appear to be any information available on this online – where she instead describes herself as a “lawyer”?. Also appears she was an unregistered barrister rather than having completed pupilage.