The government has a full set of justice ministers again with the appointment of Stuart Andrew MP as minister of state at the Ministry of Justice. The member for Pudsey, Horsforth and Aireborough, was a housing minister until his resignation from the government last week.
Andrew is expected to pick up the political hot potato of the criminal bar's protest action over legal aid rates.
In another appointment, barrister Sarah Dines MP has joined the department as Parliamentary Under Secretary of State. Dines was called to the bar in 1988 and has represented Derbyshire Dales since 2019. Her previous government post was as assistant whip.
Meanwhile, Simon Baynes MP has been named as parliamentary under secretary of state jointly at the Ministry of Justice and the Home Office. The Clwyd South MP is expected to share the prisons and portfolio under Corby MP Tom Pursglove, appointed minister of state jointly at the Home Office and the Ministry of Justice last week.
Lord Bellamy (Christopher Bellamy QC) remains justice spokesperson in the Lords following his appointment as parliamentary under secretary of state last month.
The appointments - together with that of the lord chancellor, Dominic Raab MP - are necessarily short term given Boris Johnson's decision to step down as prime minister when a new leader of the Conservative party is named on 5 September.
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