Part of the debate – in the House of Lords at 2:30 pm on 13 July 2004.
I am describing the prescription as a matter of law, not convention. It would now, I assume, be a matter of law that the Lord Chancellor should be a senior lawyer and a member of the Cabinet. That would be a unique prescription in law of the power of the Prime Minister and the appointment of the Cabinet. There is the major point that a departmental Minister with a budget of £3 billion—