David Lidington MP was sworn in as lord high chancellor of Great Britain last week, telling the most senior legal figures in England and Wales that he will be ‘resolute and unflinching’ in upholding the rule of law and defending the independence of the judiciary. In an apparent attempt to distance himself from rows surrounding his predecessor Liz Truss, Lidington stressed that the rule of law together with the independence of the judiciary ‘form the bedrock of a free and democratic society’. The lord chief justice, Lord Thomas of Cwmgiedd, told the lord chancellor that his appointment ‘comes at a time of real challenge for our justice system’.