Justice Secretary Robert Buckland was sat on the steps of the throne in the Lords yesterday as Ken Clarke was introduced to the Chamber. He looked uneasy when the clerk read the letters patent out describing the new member as an “expert in the law”. There are serious doubts the Government will be able to look to the current Red Benches for a new Scottish Advocate General…

One keen senior Scottish Tory tells Guido “it’s a hugely prestigious role for an advocate so there won’t be a shortage of applicants!” Guido understands there is a chronic shortage of applicants.

The SNP’s Joanna Cherry is waltzing around the corridors of power telling anyone who will listen no one in Edinburgh will accept it. It’s expected that in the short term this is probably true. Lord Keen, after all, resigned and he had been Chairman of the Scottish Conservative Party from 2014-15. The Government is in no rush, and will likely not be recruiting until the country is past Internal Market Bill contentions. The only name currently doing the rounds is Gavin MacColl QC. Don’t expect an announcement of fast-track peerage soon…