Lord Chancellor & Secretary of State for Justice Shabana Mahmood

Ms Mahmood was born and brought up in Birmingham and studies law at Lincoln College, University of Oxford, (Rishi Sunak was in the year ahead of her). She went on to complete the Bar Vocational Course at the Inns of Court School of Law in 2003 after receiving a scholarship. As a barrister, her specialism is in professional indemnity. She has been the MP for Birmingham Ladywood since 2010, becoming one of the UK’s first female Muslim MPs. Mahmood has spoken about how her faith is the most important thing in her life, and said that it is the motivation for her to undertake public service. She has a long-standing interest in the justice system, having been Shadow Minister for Prisons under Ed Milliband’s leadership.

As Justice Secretary, Ms Mahmood is ultimately accountable for the work of the MoJ, her formal responsibilities include:

• Oversight of all portfolios and Ministry of Justice strategy
• Oversight of departmental COVID-19 response supported by other ministers according to portfolio
• Oversight of international business and future relations with the EU
• MoJ support for the Union
• Resourcing of the department
• Functions of the Lord Chancellor
• Judicial policy including pay, pensions and diversity (these and other operational decisions affecting the judiciary are reserved to the Lord Chancellor)
• Corporate services

Minister of State James Timpson

A much more surprising appointment was that of James Timpson as the Prisons Minister. Mr Timpson is not a politician but the chief executive of Timpsons, best known to most of us as the local place to get your keys cut or shoes repaired. It is a family business (founded in 1865 in Manchester) and the company also owns a number of other brands including Max Spielmann, Johnsons The Cleaners, Snappy Snaps, Jeeves of Belgravia, The Watch Lab and Flock Inns. The Alex Timpson Trust offers free holiday homes for foster families because James’s parents, John and Alex, who died in 2016, fostered 90 children over 31 years at their home in Manchester.

The 52-year-old chief executive has a reputation for doing business in a different way. It has an “upside down” management style where the 5,600 employees are in charge and is known for its belief in social justice, they routinely offer to dry-clean job interview outfits for free for customers who are unemployed. The company also does small jobs for free, such as adding a new belt hole for customers, asking them to make a donation instead of paying, which has raised more than £4m for charities so far, according to a recent Guardian profile. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the company temporarily closed its 2150 stores, but, unlike many others, continued to pay its employees in full.

Much more relevantly though is the fact that James Timpson has been a campaigner for penal reform for many years. He is well known in the justice field for advocating the employment of former prisoners and has always been perceived as an effective advocate because his company practised what he preached. Mr Timpson (@JamesTCobbler on the Twitter/X social media platform) was the Chair of the Employers Forum for Reducing Re-offending (EFFRR) until 2016, and became Chair of the Prison Reform Trust that same year, a role he held until his new appointment. He also founded the Employment Advisory Board network across the prison estate, which links prisons with employers to improve the employment opportunities for ex-offenders upon release.

Mr Timpson has no political affiliations and has previously worked with Conservative ministers on penal reform – indeed Risk Sunak even visited a Timpson’s during the election campaign.

In order to take up his ministerial role, Mr Timpson was made a Life Peer and his appointment is reminiscent of Gordon Brown’s premiership when a number of non-politicians were given ministerial roles in what was described as “government by experts”.

Lord Timpson’s responsibilities are:

• Prison capacity and related policy
• Prison operations, policy, reform, and industrial relations
• His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service administration
• Probation demand
• Probation policy and operations, industrial relations, and transparency
• Prisoner Escort Contracts
• Reducing Reoffending
• Release on Temporary Licence (ROTL) schemes
• Electronic Monitoring (EM)
• Foreign National Offenders
• Home Detention Curfew (HDC)
• Offender Cohorts
• Female Offenders
• Offender health and drugs
• Parole based victim engagement.
• Parole policy
• Counter Terrorism
• Sustainability
• Cross-cutting Digital, Data and transformation

Minister of State Sarah Sackman 

Sarah Sackman was born and raised in Golders Green. She was called to the Bar in 2008 and worked as a barrister at Francis Taylor Building and Matrix Chambers, focusing on public, election, planning, environment and rating law. She was elected as the MP for Finchley and Golders Green in July 2024 and served as Solicitor General until her appointment to the MoJ.

Ms Alexander is responsible for:

• Criminal Courts and Criminal Court recovery
• Court Reform (including artificial intelligence, modernisation, and digital reform)
• His Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service administration
• Legal Aid
• Legal Aid Agency administration
• Legal Services
• Criminal Cases Review Commission administration
• Civil Justice
• Modern Justice System: Legal Support; Dispute Resolution
• Tribunals Policy (incl. fees)
• Irregular Migration
• Probate
• Miscarriages of Justice
• Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation
• Office for the Public Guardian administration
• Mental Capacity
• Secondary Legislation
• Press/ Communications
• MoJ Mission lead for Kickstart economic growth

Under-Secretary of State Alex Davies-Jones

Alexandra Davies was born in Church Village in 1989,  she is the daughter of a miner, stating that she was “brought up on the values of socialism”. She graduated from Cardiff University with a joint honours degree in law and politics. She has been the MP for Pontypridd since 2019 and has served as Shadow Minister for Domestic Violence and Safeguarding.

Ms Davies-Jones holds the portfolios for:

• Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG)
• Criminal Law (incl. Child Sexual Abuse)
• Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority
• Rape and Serious Sexual Offences
• Victims and Witnesses inc. Victims’ Commissioner
• Hillsborough
• Coroners and Death Management
• Commons Family Minister
• Cross-cutting corporate portfolio (incl. Ministerial Disability Champion Meetings, Diversity & Inclusion, Covid-19 Inquiry, Public Appointments, Senior Civil Service HR)
• MoJ Mission lead for Take back our streets

Under-Secretary of State, Lord Ponsoby of Shulbrede

Frederick Ponsonby succeeded his father as Baron Ponsonby of Shulbrede and a hereditary peer upon his death in 1990. A member of the Labour Party, he lost his seat in the House of Lords after the passage of the House of Lords Act 1999. However, he returned to the chamber as a life peer in 2000, as Baron Ponsonby of Roehampton, of Shulbrede in the County of West Sussex. Ponsonby served as an opposition spokesperson for Justice from April 2020 and Home Affairs from May 2021.

Lord Ponsonby’s portfolio covers:

• Family Justice and Marriage and Divorce
• All Lords Business (except PPP)
• Private International Law
• International Criminal Justice
• Constitution
• Crown Dependencies
• Devolution and the Union
• EU Retained Law policy.
• Human Rights
• International
• Judicial Review
• Overseas Territories

Under-Secretary of State, Sir Nic Dakin

Nic Dakin grew up in Leicestershire and worked as a teacher (including as a head) for many years before being the MP for Scunthorpe from 2010-2019. He lost his seat in 2019 but was returned to Westminster in the last election. In addition to his work at the MoJ, he is Junior Lord of the Treasury (Westminster speak for Government Whip).

Sir Nic is responsible for:

• Sentencing
• Youth Justice
• Youth Hubs
• Transparency
• MoJ Mission lead for Breakdown barriers to opportunity

He will also speak on prisons, probation and parole in the House of Commons (something James Timpson is constitutionally forbidden from doing).