The Right Honourable
The Lord Bellamy
KC
Bellamy in 2022
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice
Assumed office
7 June 2022
Prime MinisterBoris Johnson
Liz Truss[1]
Rishi Sunak
Preceded byThe Lord Wolfson of Tredegar
Member of the House of Lords
Lord Temporal
Assumed office
14 June 2022
Life peerage
Personal details
Born (1946-04-25) 25 April 1946 (age 77)
Political partyConservative
EducationTonbridge School
Alma materBrasenose College, Oxford

Christopher William Bellamy, Baron Bellamy, KC (born 25 April 1946), is a British barrister and former judge.

Early and personal life

Born on 25 April 1946, Bellamy's father was a physician. Bellamy attended the independent Tonbridge School and then Brasenose College, Oxford.[2]

He is a member of the Athenaeum and Garrick clubs.[3]

Career

Bellamy was called to the bar at the Middle Temple in 1968. He spent a year teaching before starting to practise as a barrister in 1970,[2] when he joined Monckton Chambers. He developed specialisms in European, competition and regulatory law, and in 1986 was appointed Queen's Counsel.[4]

Between 1992 and 1999, Bellamy was a judge of the Court of First Instance of the European Communities.[4] He then served as a judge on the Employment Appeal Tribunal between 2000 and 2007,[2] and as president of the United Kingdom's Competition Appeal Tribunals for the Competition Commission (between 1999 and 2003) and then of the Competition Appeal Tribunal (from 2003 to 2007).[2][4]

After leaving the judiciary in 2007, Bellamy became a senior consultant at Linklaters, where he was appointed chairman of its Global Competition Practice in 2011.[5] He left Linklaters in 2020 and resumed practising as a barrister at Monckton Chambers.[4]

Bellamy was elevated to the peerage as Baron Bellamy in the 2022 Special Honours.[6]

On 7 June 2022, Bellamy was appointed Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice in the Ministry of Justice, replacing David Wolfson.[7] Aged 76, he became the oldest minister in the Government.[3] He was reappointed by Liz Truss and by Rishi Sunak.[8]

Honours

Bellamy was a bencher of the Middle Temple in 1994.[2] He was knighted in the 2000 New Year Honours.[9] On 14 June 2022, to facilitate his ministerial role, he was created Baron Bellamy, of Waddesdon in the County of Buckinghamshire, for life, and was introduced to the House of Lords the same day, supported by Baroness Scott of Bybrook and Lord Anderson of Ipswich.[citation needed]

References

  1. ^ "Ministerial Appointments: September 2022". GOV.UK. Retrieved 20 September 2022.
  2. ^ a b c d e "Bellamy, Sir Christopher (William)", Who's Who (online ed., Oxford University Press, December 2020). Retrieved 25 January 2021.
  3. ^ a b Dyer, Henry [@Direthoughts] (7 June 2022). "Fresh blood to reinvigorate Johnson's premiership, with former judge and Athenaeum/Garrick man Sir Christopher Bellamy QC made a life peer and a junior justice minister. Believe with his 25 April 1946 birthdate he is now the oldest minister in the government by about 3.5 years" (Tweet). Retrieved 7 June 2022 – via Twitter.
  4. ^ a b c d "Sir Christopher Bellamy QC", Monckton Chambers. Retrieved 25 January 2021.
  5. ^ "Sir Christopher Bellamy QC", The Legal 500. Retrieved 25 January 2021.
  6. ^ "Lord Bellamy". Retrieved 21 April 2023.
  7. ^ "Sir Christopher Bellamy QC". GOV.UK. Retrieved 7 June 2022.
  8. ^ "Ministerial Appointments commencing: 25 October 2022". GOV.UK. Retrieved 30 October 2022.
  9. ^ Supplement to the London Gazette, 31 December 1999 (issue no. 55710), p. 2.
Political offices Preceded byThe Lord Wolfson of Tredegar Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice 2022–present Incumbent Orders of precedence in the United Kingdom Preceded byThe Lord Harrington of Watford GentlemenBaron Bellamy Followed byThe Lord Markham
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