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Law officer in the UK government From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
His Majesty's Solicitor General for England and Wales, known informally as the Solicitor General, is one of the law officers of the Crown in the government of the United Kingdom. They are the deputy of the Attorney General, whose duty is to advise the Crown and Cabinet on the law. They exercise the powers of the Attorney General which are delegated to them under section 1 of the Law Officers Act 1997. Despite the title, the position is usually held by a barrister as opposed to a solicitor.
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Solicitor General for England and Wales | |
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Attorney General's Office | |
Style | Solicitor |
Reports to | Attorney General for England and Wales |
Appointer | The Monarch on the advice of the Prime Minister |
Term length | At His Majesty's Pleasure |
Formation | Before 1460 |
Salary | £142,106 per annum (2022)[1] (including £84,144 MP salary)[2] |
Website | www |
There is also a Solicitor General for Scotland, who is the deputy of the Lord Advocate.[3] As well as the Sovereign's Solicitor General, the Prince of Wales and a Queen consort (when the Sovereign is male) are also entitled to have an Attorney and Solicitor General, though the present Prince of Wales has only an Attorney General and no Solicitor General.
The Solicitor General is addressed in court as "Mr Solicitor" or "Ms Solicitor". The Solicitor General is shadowed by the Shadow Solicitor General who sits on the Official Opposition frontbench.
The current holder of the position, Sarah Sackman, was appointed by prime minister Keir Starmer following the victory of the Labour Party in the 2024 United Kingdom general election.
incomplete
Name | Portrait | Term of office | Political party | Prime Minister | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Sir Edward Carson | ![]() |
7 May 1900 | 4 December 1905 | Irish Unionist Alliance | 3rd Marquess of Salisbury | ||
Arthur Balfour | |||||||
Sir William Robson | ![]() |
12 December 1905 | 28 January 1908 | Liberal | Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman | ||
Sir Samuel Evans | ![]() |
28 January 1908 | 6 March 1910 | ||||
H. H. Asquith | |||||||
Sir Rufus Isaacs | ![]() |
6 March 1908 | 7 October 1910 | ||||
Sir John Simon | ![]() |
7 October 1910 | 19 October 1913 | ||||
Sir Stanley Buckmaster | ![]() |
19 October 1913 | 8 November 1915 | ||||
Sir F. E. Smith | ![]() |
2 June 1915 | 8 November 1915 | Conservative | |||
Sir George Cave | ![]() |
8 November 1915 | 10 December 1915 | ||||
Sir Gordon Hewart | ![]() |
10 December 1915 | 10 January 1919 | Liberal | David Lloyd George | ||
Sir Ernest Pollock | ![]() |
10 January 1919 | 6 March 1922 | Conservative | |||
Sir Leslie Scott | 6 March 1922 | 19 October 1922 | |||||
Sir Thomas Inskip | ![]() |
31 October 1922 | 22 January 1924 | Bonar Law | |||
Stanley Baldwin | |||||||
Sir Henry Slesser | ![]() |
23 January 1924 | 3 November 1924 | Labour | Ramsay MacDonald | ||
Sir Thomas Inskip | ![]() |
11 November 1924 | 28 March 1928 | Conservative | Stanley Baldwin | ||
Sir Boyd Merriman | 28 March 1928 | 5 June 1929 | |||||
Sir James B. Melville | 7 June 1929 | 22 October 1930 | Labour | Ramsay MacDonald | |||
Sir Stafford Cripps | ![]() |
22 October 1930 | 24 August 1931 | ||||
Sir Thomas Inskip | ![]() |
3 September 1931 | 26 January 1932 | Conservative | |||
Sir Boyd Merriman | 26 January 1932 | 29 September 1933 | |||||
Sir Donald Somervell | 29 September 1933 | 19 March 1936 | |||||
Stanley Baldwin | |||||||
Sir Terence O'Connor | 19 March 1936 | 7 May 1940 | |||||
Neville Chamberlain | |||||||
Sir William Jowitt | ![]() |
15 May 1940 | 4 March 1942 | Labour | Sir Winston Churchill | ||
Sir David Maxwell Fyfe | ![]() |
4 March 1942 | 25 May 1945 | Conservative | |||
Sir Walter Monckton | 25 May 1945 | 26 July 1945 | |||||
Sir Frank Soskice | 4 August 1945 | 24 April 1951 | Labour | Clement Attlee | |||
Sir Lynn Ungoed-Thomas | 24 April 1951 | 26 October 1951 | |||||
Sir Reginald Manningham-Buller | 3 November 1951 | 8 October 1954 | Conservative | Sir Winston Churchill | |||
Sir Harry Hylton-Foster | 18 October 1954 | 22 October 1959 | |||||
Sir Winston Churchill
Sir Anthony Eden | |||||||
Harold Macmillan | |||||||
Sir Jocelyn Simon | 22 October 1959 | 8 February 1962 | |||||
Sir John Hobson | 8 February 1962 | 19 July 1962 | |||||
Sir Peter Rawlinson | 19 July 1962 | 16 October 1964 | Harold Macmillan | ||||
Sir Dingle Foot | 18 October 1964 | 24 August 1967 | Labour | Harold Wilson | |||
Sir Arthur Irvine | 24 August 1967 | 19 June 1970 | |||||
Sir Geoffrey Howe | ![]() |
23 June 1970 | 5 November 1972 | Conservative | Edward Heath | ||
Sir Michael Havers | 5 November 1972 | 4 March 1974 | |||||
Peter Archer | 7 March 1974 | 4 May 1979 | Labour | Harold Wilson | |||
Sir Ian Percival | 5 May 1979 | 13 June 1983 | Conservative | Margaret Thatcher | |||
Sir Patrick Mayhew | 13 June 1983 | 13 June 1987 | |||||
Sir Nicholas Lyell | 13 June 1987 | 15 April 1992 | Margaret Thatcher | ||||
Sir Derek Spencer | 15 April 1992 | 2 May 1997 | John Major | ||||
Lord Falconer of Thoroton | ![]() |
6 May 1997 | 28 July 1998 | Labour | Tony Blair | ||
Sir Ross Cranston | 28 July 1998 | 11 June 2001 |
Colour key (for political parties):
Conservative
Labour
Name | Portrait | Term of office | Political party | Prime Minister | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Harriet Harman[4] | ![]() |
11 June 2001 | 10 May 2005 | Labour | Tony Blair | ||
Mike O'Brien[5] | ![]() |
11 May 2005 | 29 June 2007 | ||||
Dame Vera Baird[6] | ![]() |
29 June 2007 | 11 May 2010 | Gordon Brown | |||
Sir Edward Garnier[7] | ![]() |
13 May 2010 | 4 September 2012 | Conservative | David Cameron | ||
Sir Oliver Heald[8] | ![]() |
4 September 2012 | 15 July 2014 | ||||
Sir Robert Buckland[9] | ![]() |
15 July 2014 | 9 May 2019 | ||||
David Cameron Theresa May | |||||||
Lucy Frazer[10] | ![]() |
9 May 2019 | 25 July 2019 | Theresa May | |||
Sir Michael Ellis | ![]() |
25 July 2019 | 2 March 2021 | Boris Johnson | |||
Lucy Frazer | ![]() |
2 March 2021 | 10 September 2021 | ||||
Sir Michael Ellis | ![]() |
10 September 2021 | 16 September 2021 | ||||
Alex Chalk | ![]() |
16 September 2021 | 5 July 2022 | ||||
Edward Timpson | ![]() |
7 July 2022 | 7 September 2022 | ||||
Michael Tomlinson | ![]() |
7 September 2022 | 7 December 2023 | Liz Truss | |||
Rishi Sunak | |||||||
Robert Courts | ![]() |
7 December 2023 | 5 July 2024 | ||||
Sarah Sackman | ![]() |
9 July 2024 | Incumbent | Labour | Keir Starmer |