| United Kingdom Attorney General for England and Wales | |
|---|---|
.svg) | |
| Attorney General's Office | |
| Style | Attorney General (informal) The Right Honourable (within the UK and Commonwealth) |
| Member of | |
| Reports to | Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Secretary of State for Justice |
| Nominator | Prime Minister |
| Appointer | The Monarch (on the advice of thePrime Minister) |
| Term length | At His Majesty's pleasure |
| Formation | 1277 |
| First holder | William de Boneville |
| Deputy | Solicitor General for England and Wales |
| Salary | £178,594 per annum(2022)[1] (including £84,144MP salary)[2] |
| Website | www.gov.uk |
| This article is part of the series:Courts of England and Wales |
| Law of England and Wales |
|---|
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Criminal prosecution |
His Majesty's Attorney General for England and Wales (Welsh:Twrnai Cyffredinol Lloegr a Chymru)[3] is the chief legal adviser to theSovereign andGovernment in affairs pertaining toEngland and Wales as well as the highest ranking amongst theLaw officers of the Crown.[4][5] TheAttorney general is the leader of theAttorney General's Office and currently attends (but is not a member of) theCabinet.[6] Unlike in other countries employing theCommon law legal system, the attorney general does not govern theAdministration of justice; that function is carried out by theSecretary of State for Justice andLord Chancellor. The incumbent is also concurrently theAdvocate General for Northern Ireland.[7]
The position of Attorney General dates back to at least 1243, when records indicate that a professional attorney was appointed to represent the King's interests in court. The position first took on a political role in 1461 when the holder of the office was summoned to theHouse of Lords to advise the Government there on legal matters. In 1673, the attorney general officially became the Crown's adviser and representative in legal matters, although still specialising in litigation rather than advice. The beginning of the 20th century saw a shift away from litigation and more towards legal advice. Today, prosecutions are carried out by theCrown Prosecution Service (CPS) and most legal advice to government departments is provided by theGovernment Legal Department, both under the supervision of the attorney general.
Additional duties include superintending theSerious Fraud Office,HM Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate,Service Prosecuting Authority, and other government lawyers with the authority to prosecute cases. The attorney general advises the government, individual government departments, and individual government ministers on legal matters, answering questions in Parliament and bringing"Unduly lenient" sentences and points of law to theCourt of Appeal of England and Wales. As per theLaw Officers Act 1997, duties can be delegated to theSolicitor General, and any actions are treated as if they came from the attorney general.
The correspondingshadow minister is theShadow Attorney General for England and Wales, who scrutinises the work of the attorney general alongside theJustice Select Committee.[8]
The origins of the office are unknown, but the earliest record of an "attorney of the crown" is from 1243, when a professional attorney named Laurence Del Brok was paid to prosecute cases for the king, who could not appear in courts where he had an interest.[9] During the early days of the office the holder was largely concerned with representing the Crown in litigation, and held no political role or duties.[10] Although a valuable position, the attorney general was expected to work incredibly hard; althoughFrancis North (1637–1685) was earning £7,000 a year as attorney general he was pleased to give up the office and becomeChief Justice of the Common Pleas because of the smaller workload, despite the heavily reduced pay.[10] The office first took on a political element in 1461, when the holder was summoned by writ to theHouse of Lords to advise the government on legal matters. This was also the first time that the office was referred to as the office of the "Attorney General".[9] The custom of summoning the attorney general to the Lords by writ when appointed continues unbroken to this day, although until the appointment ofLord Williams of Mostyn in 1999, no attorney general had sat in the Lords since 1700, and no attorney general had obeyed the writ since 1742.[11]
During the 16th century, the attorney general was used to pass messages between theHouse of Lords and House of Commons, although he was viewed suspiciously by the Commons and seen as a tool of the Lords and the king.[11] In 1673 the attorney general began to take up a seat in the House of Commons, and since then it has been convention to ensure that all attorneys general are members of the House of Commons or House of Lords, although there is no requirement that they be so.[12] During the constitutional struggle centred on theRoyal Declaration of Indulgence in 1672 and 1673 the attorney general officially became the Crown's representative in legal matters.
In 1890, the ability of an attorney general to continue practising privately was formally taken away, turning the office-holder into a dedicated representative of the government.[13] Since the beginning of the twentieth century the role of the attorney general has moved away from representing the Crown and government directly in court, and it has become more of a political and ministerial post, with the attorney general serving as a legal adviser to both the government as a whole and individual government departments.[14] Despite this change, until the passing of theHomicide Act 1957 the attorney general was bound to prosecute any and all poisoning cases.[15]
However, in recent times the attorney general has exceptionally conducted litigation in person before the courts, for instance before the House of Lords inA and Others v Secretary of State for the Home Department,[16] where the legality of the government's detention of terrorist suspects at Belmarsh was at issue.
The attorney general is currently not a cabinet minister, but is designated as also attending Cabinet.[17] The rule that no attorney general may be a cabinet minister is apolitical convention rather than a law, and for a short period of time the attorney general did sit in cabinet,[5] starting withSir Rufus Isaacs in 1912 and ending withDouglas Hogg in 1928.[18] There is nothing that prohibits attorneys general from attending meetings of the Cabinet, and on occasion they have been asked to attend meetings to advise the government on the best course of action legally.[5] Despite this, it is considered preferable to exclude attorneys general from cabinet meetings so as to draw a distinct line between them and the political decisions on which they are giving legal advice.[5] As a government minister, the attorney general is directly answerable to Parliament.[19]
The attorney general is also the chief legal adviser of the Crown and its government, and has the primary role of advising the government on any legal repercussions of their actions, either orally at meetings or in writing. As well as the government as a whole, they also advise individual departments.[5][20] Although the primary role is no longer one of litigation, the attorney general still represents the Crown and government in court in some select, particularly important cases, and chooses theTreasury Counsel who handle most government legal cases.[15] By convention, they represent the government in every case in front of theInternational Court of Justice.[15] The attorney general also superintends theCrown Prosecution Service and appoints its head, theDirector of Public Prosecutions. Decisions to prosecute are taken by the Crown Prosecution Service other than in exceptional cases i.e. where the attorney general's consent is required by statute or in cases relating to national security.[21] An example of a consent case is theCampbell Case, which led to the fall of the firstLabour government in 1924.[22]
The attorney general also superintends theGovernment Legal Department and theSerious Fraud Office.[20][23] The attorney general also has powers to bring"unduly lenient" sentences and points of law to theCourt of Appeal, issue writs ofnolle prosequi to cancel criminal prosecutions, supervise other prosecuting bodies (such asDEFRA) and advise individual ministers facing legal action as a result of their official actions.[24] They are responsible for making applications to the court restraining vexatious litigants, and may intervene in litigation to represent the interests of charity, or the public interest in certain family law cases.[25] They are also officially the leader of theBar of England and Wales, although this is merely custom and has no duties or rights attached to it.[24] The attorney general's duties have long been considered strenuous, with SirPatrick Hastings saying that "to be a law officer is to be in hell".[9] Since the passing of theLaw Officers Act 1997, any duties of the attorney general can be delegated to theSolicitor General for England and Wales, with their actions pertaining to the attorney general's supposed duties treated as coming from the attorney general himself.[26]
Colour key (for political parties):
Conservative Liberal
Colour key (for political parties):
Conservative
Labour
Liberal
Liberal Unionist
National Labour
Irish Unionist
Colour key (for political parties):
Conservative
Labour
| Attorney general | Term of office | Political party | Prime Minister | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | The Baron GoldsmithPC QC | 11 June 2001 | 27 June 2007 | Labour | Blair | ||
 | The Baroness Scotland of AsthalPC QC | 27 June 2007 | 11 May 2010 | Brown | |||
 | Dominic Grieve MP forBeaconsfield | 12 May 2010 | 15 July 2014 | Conservative | Cameron (coalition) | ||
 | Jeremy Wright MP forKenilworth and Southam | 15 July 2014 | 9 July 2018 | Cameron | |||
| May | |||||||
 | Geoffrey Cox MP forTorridge and West Devon | 9 July 2018 | 13 February 2020 | ||||
| Johnson | |||||||
 | Suella Braverman MP forFareham | 13 February 2020 | 2 March 2021 | ||||
 | Michael Ellis MP forNorthampton North | 2 March 2021 | 10 September 2021 | ||||
| Suella Braverman MP forFareham | 10 September 2021 | 6 September 2022 | ||||
| Michael Ellis MP forNorthampton North | 6 September 2022 | 25 October 2022 | Truss | |||
 | Victoria Prentis MP forBanbury | 25 October 2022 | 5 July 2024 | Sunak | |||
.jpg) | The Baron Hermer PC KC | 5 July 2024 | Incumbent | Labour | Starmer | ||
The Justice Select Committee holds a one-off session on the work of the Attorney General on Tuesday 15 September.
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