New PM Theresa May appoints Liz Truss as first woman lord chancellor

Liz Truss has become the first woman to hold the post of lord chancellor in the thousand-year history of the role, after replacing the sacked Michael Gove as justice secretary in Theresa May’s new cabinet.

Gove was sacked by May following years of reported clashes between the two in David Cameron’s cabinet, as well as his own failed power play for the premiership in which he lost the trust of many of his Conservative colleagues. However, Gove had become a relatively popular justice secretary after signalling a change from the usual ‘Conservative approach to justice to focus on penal reform and rehabilitation. It remains to be seen whether Truss will continue to run the Ministry of Justice in this modernising vein or will return to the ‘lock ‘em up’ approach beloved of the Conservative right.

However, the Law Society has welcomed Truss to her new role. Catherine Dixon, its chief executive, said: “Liz Truss is the first woman to hold the post of lord chancellor. We welcome her appointment and look forward to working with her as we have with her predecessors. This is a moment of significant change for the country and we are particularly focused on access to justice and that ensuring people’s rights are safeguarded. The legal sector contributes £25.7 billion to our economy, creating more than 370,000 jobs. We are calling on the government to safeguard the ability of lawyers to practice across the European Union and other issues such as extradition rights which protect the interests of justice and safeguard our citizens. The law of England and Wales is and will continue to be used across the globe as the gold standard and England and Wales is the premier jurisdiction of choice irrespective of whether we are in the European Union.”