UK appoints Secretary of Justice with no Law qualifications or legal experience

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Who is new lord chancellor Alex Norris MP? | Law Gazette

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News

Who is Alex Norris MP?

By Paul Rogerson2026-07-21T10:29:00+01:00

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A few blank faces greeted the appointment of Alex Norris MP as lord chancellor and justice secretary. Norris is hardly a household name and his hitherto modest ministerial career has generated few portents of a star in the making. Some lawyers may gloomily conclude that this eye-catching promotion reflects the lowly rung on the Cabinet ladder that the position of lord chancellor now occupies.

More instructive clues to Norris’s elevation lie in his background. Like Burnham, the 42-year-old is a former municipal worthy of the ‘soft left’, having spent six years as Nottingham city councillor. He is also a former UNISON trade union organiser.

A Mancunian alumnus of Manchester Grammar School, Norris moved to the Midlands city permanently after studying politics and history at Nottingham University. He entered parliament as MP for Nottingham North in 2017 as one of the Corbyn intake, after Labour did better than expected in that year’s general election. Like Burnham, he supported Lisa Nandy in the 2020 Labour leadership election.

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Non-lawyer Alex Norris MP picked as lord chancellor

David Lammy and Lord Hermer out as Andy Burnham names team

Until yesterday, Norris was Home Office minister responsible for border security and asylum. He entered government in 2024 as parliamentary...

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