Charles Falconer, Baron Falconer of Thoroton

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Charles Leslie Falconer, Baron Falconer of Thoroton, PC, QC (born 19 November 1951) is a British barrister and Labour Party politician. In June 2003 he became the Lord Chancellor and the first Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs (a position created originally to replace the position of Lord Chancellor).

Educated at the Edinburgh Academy, Trinity College, Glenalmond, and Queens' College, Cambridge, Falconer became a flatmate of Tony Blair when they were both young barristers in London in the early 1970s. They had first met as pupils at rival schools in the 1960s. While Blair went into politics, Falconer concentrated on his legal career, practising from Fountain Court Chambers in London, and becoming a Queen's Counsel in 1991.

In May 1997 Blair became Prime Minister and Falconer was made a life peer as Baron Falconer of Thoroton, of Thoroton in the County of Nottinghamshire (he was the first peer created on Blair's recommendation), and joined the government as Solicitor General. In 1998 he became Minister of State at the Cabinet Office, taking over responsibility for the Millennium Dome after the resignation of Peter Mandelson. He was heavily criticised for the failure of the Dome to attract an audience, but resisted calls for his resignation.

He joined the Department for Transport, Local Government and the Regions as Minister for Housing, Planning and Regeneration after the 2001 election and moved on to the Home Office in 2002. At the Home Office he was responsible for criminal justice, sentencing and law reform, and annoyed some of his fellow lawyers by suggesting that their fees were too high.

In 2003 he joined the Cabinet as the Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs, becoming also Lord Chancellor 'for the interim period' before the office was abolished. The government argued that the position of a cabinet minister as a Judge and Head of the Judiciary was no longer appropriate and would not be upheld by the European Convention on Human Rights. The announcement was generally seen as a rushed one as the abolition of the office of Lord Chancellor would require primary legislation. Removing the Lord Chancellor's judicial role was a policy known to be disliked by Lord Irvine of Lairg, the previous Lord Chancellor.

The post of Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs took over the remaining responsibilites of the Lord Chancellor, and also became the sponsoring Department for the Secretary of State for Wales and the Secretary of State for Scotland. Falconer announced his intention not to use the Lord Chancellor's power to sit as a judge and stopped wearing the traditional robe and wig of office.

In a recent radio address on the BBC, he rejected calls for an English parliament to represent the people of England despite the fact that Scotland has its own parliament.