Lord Judge, former lord chief justice of England and Wales and current convenor of Parliament’s cross-bench peers, delivered The Selden Society Inns of Court annual history lecture on 1 November.

Entitled The Kings Prerogative 1622; the Prime Minister’s Prerogative 2022, Lord Judge begins by looking at the “troublesome relationship” between James I and the House of Commons in 1621 before jumping 400 years to the present.

He says: “Constitutional power is vested virtually exclusively in the Commons, and although that is the principle, in reality the exercise of power resides in number 10 Downing Street, which nowadays exercises significant oversight over the departments of state. Of course modern prime ministers cannot lock up their opponents, nor do they remain in office for life. Despite those important distinctions I venture to suggest that true description of where actual power rests is the Prime Minister in the Commons.”

Read the full lecture here.