Falconer of Thoroton, Lord

▪ 2004

      On June 12, 2003, Lord Falconer of Thoroton, a longtime friend and political ally of British Prime Minister Tony Blair, took on what was likely to be the most challenging job of his career when Blair named him lord high chancellor and keeper of the great seal. On the same day, Blair announced the abolition of this position (first created in 605), and Falconer, the 259th and last lord chancellor, was given the task of introducing the legislation that would replace the post with that of secretary of state for constitutional affairs.

      Charles Leslie Falconer was born in Edinburgh on Nov. 19, 1951. He and Blair were boyhood acquaintances; at one point they even competed to date the same girl. Both men went on to study law—Blair at St. John's College, Oxford, and Falconer at Queen's College, Cambridge—and in 1976 the young barristers found themselves working in the same building. Blair moved into Falconer's apartment in south London for a time, and both became active in the same local branch of the Labour Party.

      In the 1980s, after Blair had entered politics, Falconer continued to pursue a successful legal career, specializing in commercial law. The two remained close; they bought houses near each other in north London and often dined together. In 1991, at the unusually young age of 40, Falconer was appointed Queen's Counsel (the official designation of senior barristers). Ahead of the 1997 general election (with a Labour government a near certainty after 18 years in opposition), he sought to run for Parliament, but he was turned down because he sent his children to private fee-paying schools—something that active local Labour Party members overwhelmingly deplored.

      Following Labour's return to power in that election, Blair arranged for a life peerage for his old friend and appointed him solicitor general. In 1998 Falconer was moved to the Cabinet Office, where he came to public attention as the minister responsible for the ill-fated Millennium Dome. He defended what many considered indefensible with good humour, a stance that evoked admiration and criticism in equal measure. After brief terms as housing minister (2001) and minister for criminal justice (2002–03), Falconer took on the post of lord chancellor and the task of reforming Britain's legal system. Within Parliament and the legal profession, there was widespread support in principle for reform. New measures would finally separate politics and the judiciary and end the ability of a government minister to appoint senior judges. Blair's appointment of his friend badly weakened the impact of a reform designed to curb patronage, but Falconer himself attracted little criticism—his skills, integrity, and easygoing style were admired across the political spectrum. In July he unveiled the first planned reforms, including the creation of a new supreme court.

Peter Kellner

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