Judges may be sidelined to allow in 'new blood'

Hundreds of part-time judges could be sidelined to make way for "new blood" under Government plans to change the terms of employment for the junior judiciary.

The Lord Chancellor, Lord Irvine of Lairg, wants to move a "significant minority" of the 1,365 Recorders of England and Wales into a reserve pool of judges where they would not be offered any more "sittings".

The change would allow more barristers and solicitors with judicial ambitions to begin a career on the Bench, while at the same time weeding out those part-time judges who were considered unsuitable for full-time judicial posts.

Recorders, whose number include Cherie Booth QC, are part-time judges who sit mainly in criminal cases. They are appointed to the statutory retirement age of 70, subject to good behaviour, and their five-year appointments are automatically renewed.