Member

However, the present situation—the uncodified expectation among certain categories of public servant that they might receive a peerage, and the legitimate right of Prime Ministers to restrain that expectation—needs some further careful reflection and possibly addressing. Notwithstanding her policy of restraint, my noble friend Lady May recommended a number of senior judges for peerages, including the Lord Chief Justice, the noble and learned Lord, Lord Burnett of Maldon; and, on her last day as Prime Minister, the incoming President of the Supreme Court, the noble and learned Lord, Lord Reed of Allermuir. Both those peerages were announced alongside their holders’ judicial appointments, akin to the customary knighthood that goes to other senior judges.