Lord Clarke for Supreme Court

Sir Anthony Clarke, Master of the Rolls and Head of Civil Justice, will join the Supreme Court on October 1, the first judge appointed direct rather than moving across from the House of Lords. He replaces Lord Scott of Foscote, who will be retiring at the end of the summer.

The appointment is not a surprise: indeed I suggested it here earlier this month.

Even though Tony Clarke will not become a law lord, he is to be given a peerage. That was announced by the Prime Minister's Office last week. Gordon Brown's reasons were as implausible as they were ungrammatical:

"When the House of Lords Appointment Commission was established, the Government agreed with the Commission, that, as well as appointments of Law Lords, a number of traditional appointments to the Lords would be reserved and fall outwith the Commission. These included the Master of the Rolls, and it was envisaged at that time that, as in the past, future Masters of the Rolls might be elevated to the Lords after a number of years."

It seems pretty clear that Lord Phillips, who becomes president of the Supreme Court, did not want the "new boy" -- whom he knows well -- to be the only founder-member of the court without a peerage. That lowly status will be reserved for future justices.

And who will succeed Clarke as Master of the Rolls? As I said earlier this month, it could be Lord Neuberger -- creating yet another vacancy in the Supreme Court. We shall see.

Posted at April 20, 2009 02:08 PM