Secretary of State for Justice

Responsibilities

Corresponding to what is generally known as a justice minister in many other countries, the justice secretary's remit encompasses justice policy for the whole United Kingdom along with matters of justice specific to England and Wales.

The justice secretary is responsible throughout the UK for:

• Human rights and civil liberties;
• Miscarriages of justice (via the Criminal Cases Review Commission); and
• The UK’s relations with the governments of the three Crown Dependencies - Guernsey, Jersey, and the Isle of Man.

In relation to England and Wales, the justice secretary's portfolio concerns the following matters:

• The delivery of criminal justice generally, including criminal law, criminal procedure, sentencing, probation and parole, criminal injury compensation, and victim's rights;
• All matters falling under civil justice, including but not limited to civil procedure, administrative law, bankruptcy and insolvency law, commercial law, contract law, family law, probate, and tort; and
• Administration of the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service, His Majesty's Prison and Probation Service, the Parole Board, the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman, the Victims' Commissioner, and the Youth Justice Board.

Creation

The then lord chancellor, Lord Falconer of Thoroton, was appointed to the post of Secretary of State for Justice when it was created in 2007. The office of Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs was abolished, along with the Department for Constitutional Affairs. The home secretary, John Reid, told Parliament that future secretaries of state for justice would be MPs rather than peers.

List of secretaries of state

Timeline

TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal AlignBars = late PlotArea = width:85% left:20 top:10 bottom:70 Legend = columns:1 left:120 top:35 columnwidth:160

Define $now =

DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy Period = from:01/01/2007 till:31/12/ TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal

Colors = id:conservative value:rgb(0,0.53,0.86) legend: Conservative_and_Unionist_Party id:labour value:rgb(0.86,0.08,0.18) legend: Labour_Party id:independent value:rgb(0.6,0.6,0.6) legend: Independent_or_no_party id:liteline value:rgb(0.9,0.9,0.9) id:line value:rgb(0.8,0.8,0.8)

ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:2 start:2007 ScaleMinor = unit:month increment:3 start:2007

TextData = pos:(20,40) textcolor:black fontsize:M text:"Political parties:"

BarData = bar:Falconer bar:Straw bar:Clarke bar:Grayling bar:Gove bar:Truss bar:Lidington bar:Gauke bar:Buckland bar:Raab bar:Lewis bar:Chalk bar:Mahmood bar:Lammy

PlotData= width:5 align:left fontsize:S shift:(5,-4) anchor:till

bar:Falconer from: 09/05/2007 till: 28/06/2007 color:Labour text:"Charles Falconer" bar:Straw from: 28/06/2007 till: 06/05/2010 color:Labour text:"Jack Straw" bar:Clarke from: 06/05/2010 till: 06/09/2012 color:Conservative text:"Kenneth Clarke" bar:Grayling from: 06/09/2012 till: 08/05/2015 color:Conservative text:"Chris Grayling" bar:Gove from: 08/05/2015 till: 14/07/2016 color:Conservative text:"Michael Gove" bar:Truss from: 14/07/2016 till: 11/06/2017 color:Conservative text:"Liz Truss" bar:Lidington from: 11/06/2017 till: 08/01/2018 color:Conservative text:"David Lidington" bar:Gauke from: 08/01/2018 till: 24/07/2019 color:Conservative text:"David Gauke" bar:Buckland from: 24/07/2019 till: 15/09/2021 color:Conservative text:"Robert Buckland" bar:Raab from: 15/09/2021 till: 06/09/2022 color:Conservative from: 25/10/2022 till: 21/04/2023 color:Conservative text:"Dominic Raab" bar:Lewis from: 06/09/2022 till: 25/10/2022 color:Conservative text:"Brandon Lewis" bar:Chalk from: 21/04/2023 till: 05/07/2024 color:Conservative text:"Alex Chalk" bar:Mahmood from: 05/07/2024 till: 05/09/2025 color:Labour text:"Shabana Mahmood" bar:Lammy from: 05/09/2025 till: $now color:Labour text:"David Lammy"

Notes

References

References

1. (15 December 2022). "Salaries of Members of His Majesty's Government – Financial Year 2022–23".
2. "Pay and expenses for MPs".
3. (9 July 2015). "Michael Gove questioned on work of Secretary of State". parliament.uk.
4. "Lord Falconer of Thoroton". UK Parliament.
5. "Rt Hon Jack Straw". UK Parliament.
6. "Lord Clarke of Nottingham". UK Parliament.
7. "Rt Hon Chris Grayling MP". UK Parliament.
8. "Rt Hon Michael Gove MP". UK Parliament.
9. "Rt Hon Elizabeth Truss MP". UK Parliament.
10. "Rt Hon Sir David Lidington". UK Parliament.
11. "The Rt Hon David Lidington CBE".
12. "Rt Hon David Gauke". UK Parliament.
13. "Rt Hon Robert Buckland MP". UK Parliament.
14. "Rt Hon Dominic Raab MP". UK Parliament.