The loudest laughs at David Lammy's swearing-in as lord chancellor yesterday went to quips by the lady chief justice, Lammy himself and attorney general Richard Hermer - though not necessarily in that order.

Baroness Carr of Walton-on-the-Hill prompted chuckles with a recollection about Lammy’s predecessor Shabana Mahmood. ’It was only a matter of months ago that she tempted fate at the City of London’s dinner for His Majesty’s judges at the Mansion House by hoping that she might well be the first lord chancellor in quite some time to attend three dinners. That is not to be.’

Continuing on the churn theme, she noted that  her immediate predecessor, Lord Burnett, spoke of having worked with as many lord chancellors as Henry VIII  had wives (if you count Dominic Raab twice). 'I will have worked with three lord chancellors in only two years. As many lord chancellors as John of Gaunt had wives.’

The biggest laugh was for the attorney general, who showed his skill for comedic timing.‘I am the first attorney general to admit in open court to admit what a pleasure it was to be whipped by the solicitor general’s husband,' Lord Hermer said. Ellie Reeves' husband is government whip Lord Cryer (the former MP John Cryer) who sits in the House of Lords as a Labour peer. 

‘Sorry I have not finished that sentence,’ Hermer said, though laughter drowned out the rest. 

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