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20 June 2019 / Dominic Regan
Issue: 7845 / Categories: Features , Profession
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Book review: House of Lords 1996–2009: Lord Hope’s Diaries

© Copyright LexisNexis 2026. All Rights Reserved.
  • Author: Lord Hope
  • Publisher: Avizandum Publishing Ltd
  • ISBN: 9781904968962
  • RRP: £25.00

If, like me, you fondly imagined that life in our highest court involved profound, courteous discussion of legal issues, you can think again after reading this astonishing work.

Far from arid, arcane points, it is like Heat magazine. Power struggles and personal conflicts are described, with no one immune from attack. A prominent chancery silk was astonished when I told her that these diaries had been published with so many players still alive today.

Always the quiet ones

The author himself at times expresses doubt about his own judgement and intellectual ability. On one day, 20 March 1999, he was depressed by mild criticism from Lord Goff and then upset because he had erroneously described Lord Reid in an article as a quiet one, when it appears he couldn’t shut up. In another entry, he bemoans the fact that ‘my judgments are rarely referred to or quoted. I sometimes wonder what

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