It has been said that the English have developed an admirable tolerance for anachronisms. The position of Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, leading member of that fountainhead of ritual and hereditary nobility - the House of Lords, the best club in the world - has been described as "older than democracy, older than parliament, older than Magna Carta, older [even] than the Norman Conquest." The Tories are to be commended for returning a little medieval pomp to the "keeper of the royal conscience", after Labour unceremoniously dewigged the men in gold brocade gowns, silk stockings and brogues.
Nice Togs: Tory Kenneth Clarke, the new Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain displays his full finery - wig, robes, tights and buckled shoes.
The Lord Chancellor walks in procession to the Royal Courts of Justice to be sworn in.
The Lord Chancellor of Great Britain shares a laugh with the Lord Chief Justice
Wigged out: Solicitor General Edward Garnier (left) and Attorney General Dominic Grieve
What a lovely spaniel you have, Ken!
ReplyDeletealthough, you'll note that we haven't seen the last of the constitutional vandalism that sees the Lord Chancellor in the Commons, NOT the Lords, which is now presided over by the Lord Speaker.
ReplyDeleteMr Clarke is an MP of course, and Lord Chancellor is a secondary title to Secretary of State for Justice, which is how he is known day to day.
I haven't heard too much more about it, but I saw on the CNN scroll that David Cameron, the new PM, wants to replace the House of Lords?! with what?! I will have to look up more about it, but what's next..the monarchy?
ReplyDeleteThe House of Lords has been dead since 1997 when Labour turfed out all but a rump of the hereditaries (90 out of 750). Since then it has been a body filled with the placemen of te PM of the day - entirely appointed life peers. This is no way to run a democracy, and Cameron has quite rightly said that, given there is literally NO appetite in the UK to restore the rights of the hereditary peerage, the best idea is to go for an elected senate.
ReplyDeleteI have t say that if you have only just woken up to this story then perhaps you should go and have another 13 years off before you look at British politics. The Lords went 13 years ago, it is not Cameron's fault, and the monarchy is an entirely unrelated question - in answer to your question, no.
The Lord Chancellor used to wear a tricorne hat as well but hasn't done so since Lord Irvine.
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