A former solicitor has been given the criminal legal aid brief at the Ministry of Justice as prime minister Liz Truss finalised her cabinet this week.

Gareth Johnson – who worked as a criminal solicitor for Kent firm Thomas Boyd Whyte when he was elected in 2010 – has been appointed as parliamentary under secretary of state, with responsibility for criminal courts recovery, criminal legal aid and dealing with the criminal bar’s ongoing industrial action.

The MP for Dartford will also handle courts and tribunals administration, delivering the MoJ’s reform programme and assisting the Home Office with tackling illegal migration.

Lord Bellamy KC has been reappointed as parliamentary under secretary of state in the House of Lords but his brief will not include criminal legal aid, having led a government-commissioned review which called for an increase in funding of ‘at least 15% above present levels’.

Gareth Johnson

Johnson will be responsible for criminal courts recovery and criminal legal aid

Source: Parliament.co.uk

Former banker Mike Freer, the MP for Finchley and Golders Green since 2010, has also been appointed as parliamentary under secretary of state with responsibility for legal services and judicial review, as well as international matters.

And Rob Butler – a former journalist who was elected MP for Aylesbury in 2019 – has been given the prisons and probation brief, having formerly served as a non-executive director of HM Prisons and Probation Service and as a magistrate.

The trio will serve under lord chancellor Brandon Lewis, who replaced Dominic Raab earlier this month to become the ninth justice secretary since the Conservatives came to power in 2010.

The final member of the MoJ ministerial team is minister of state Rachel Maclean, whose responsibilities include criminal law, sentencing, miscarriages of justice and victims and witnesses.