Lord Sumption reclaims his liberty

Lord Sumption was one of the starring guests on last night’s launch of GB News. The former judge, who stepped down from the Supreme Court in 2018, has enjoyed a varied career as one of Britain’s best paid barristers, a medieval historian and even as Keith Joseph’s onetime adviser but has emerged in recent months as a leading critic of the government’s lockdown policy.

Sumption’s frequent and pointed interventions have sparked some controversy among the legal profession which has been traditionally wary of intervening in politics. So it caused something of a stir this afternoon when it was discovered that Sumption has been removed from the online list of members of the court’s supplementary panel. Membership is restricted to former justices of the Supreme Court, provided they are under the age of 75 and not five years beyond retirement.