Third in two years: Norris sworn in as lord chancellor

The Right Honourable Alex Norris MP, a 42-year-old former trade union organiser, was today sworn in as the Labour government’s third lord chancellor in two years. Norris arrived wig-less at the Royal Courts of Justice at 8:45 this morning in the the traditional procession led by the tipstaff and the Mace of Office. He was greeted by the lady chief justice and the master of the rolls.

Norris was appointed lord chancellor and secretary of state for justice in July, replacing David Lammy MP. The gap between his appointment and formal swearing-in is the longest in recent history. Ellie Reed KC was also sworn in as attorney general and Andy Slaughter as solicitor general in Andy Burnham's government. 

In her speech of welcome, Baroness Carr of Walton-on-the-Hill reminded Norris of the constitutional importance of the ceremony. 'Taking the oath here, today, once more affirms – publicly – the particular, the fundamental relationship that the lord chancellor has with the judiciary, and the office’s statutory duty to defend judicial independence,' the lady chief justice said. 'That duty has many facets to it,  but it includes a duty to speak out publicly in defence of that independence whenever necessary.'

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