Philip Sales, Lord Sales

• Churchill College, Cambridge
• Worcester College, Oxford

The Right Honourable Lord Sales
Deputy President of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom
Incumbent
Assumed office 12 January 2026

Philip James Sales, Lord Sales, PC (born 11 February 1962) is an English judge who has served as the Deputy President of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom since January 2026.

Early life

He was educated at the Royal Grammar School, Guildford, Churchill College, Cambridge (BA, 1983), and Worcester College, Oxford (BCL, 1984). ^[1]

Career

He was called to the bar at Lincoln's Inn in 1985. In 1997, he was appointed First Junior Treasury Counsel ("Treasury Devil"), a private practitioner barrister who represents the UK government in the civil courts. ^[2] This caused "consternation" among senior lawyers, according to The Times , due to his young age. ^[3]

Sales was a practising barrister at 11 King's Bench Walk (11KBW). At the time of the appointment, there was debate over Sales' appointment. According to The Guardian , an anonymous source referred to 11KBW as a "network of old boys and cronies", and that there was "no coincidence that the appointment came from Lord Irvine's and Tony Blair's old chambers". ^[4] Acting as a barrister Sales defended the New Labour government's decision against holding a public inquiry into the Iraq War in the High Court in 2005. ^[5]

He was made a QC in 2006, deputy judge of the High Court from 2004 to 2008, and judge of the High Court of Justice (Chancery Division) since 2008. He was a Lord Justice of Appeal from July 2014.

In 2016, Sales, as a member of the Court of Appeal ruled on 12 August 2016 that 130,000 Labour members who joined the party after 12 January 2016 would not be able to vote in the leadership contest, which over-ruled the previous High Court decision to allow the 130,000 disenfranchised Labour Party members to vote in the 2016 Labour Party leadership election. ^{[6] [7] [8]}

In October 2016 Sales was one of the three judges forming the divisional court of the High Court in proceedings concerning the use of the royal prerogative for the issue of notification in accordance with Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union, R (Miller) v Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union. His role in this judgment meant that he appeared in an infamous front-cover of the Daily Mail , "Enemies of the People".

Supreme Court

Lord Justice Sales was appointed as a Justice of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom on 11 January 2019, ^[9] taking the judicial courtesy title of Lord Sales. He was appointed Deputy President on 12 January 2026. ^[10]

Personal life

Sales married Miranda Wolpert in 1988; they have a son and a daughter. ^[1]

Arms

Coat of arms of Philip Sales, Lord Sales

Crest Statant upon a balance Sable the pans Or an owl guardant also Or beaked and legged Gules holding in the dexter foot a sprig of oak Vert fructed Or. Escutcheon Per chevron Or and Azure in chief two stacks of three closed books Argent bound Azure garnished and in base three bees one and two volant Or. Motto Semper Perstat Sales [11]

References

1. "Sales, Rt Hon. Lord" . Who's Who . A & C Black.(Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
2. Seldon, Anthony (20 September 2007). Blair's Britain, 1997–2007. Cambridge University Press. ISBN   9781139468985.
3. Abel, Richard L. (2003). English Lawyers Between Market and State: The Politics of Professionalism. Oxford University Press. p. 146. ISBN   9780198260332.
4. Barnett, Antony (5 June 1999). "Job for Irvine friend fuels row over 'Tony's cronies'". The Guardian.
5. Teher, Abul (13 October 2009). "Treasury QC gets £3m in fees – and we foot the bill". London Evening Standard.
6. Turner, Matt (12 August 2016). "Labour Appeal: Fury as Appeal Court Judge Philip Sales' intimate links to Tony Blair revealed". Evolve Politics.
7. "Labour CAN Ban 130,000 Members From Voting In Leadership Contest, Rules Court of Appeal". The Huffington Post . 12 August 2016. Retrieved on 13 August 2016.
8. Stewart, Heather; Syal, Rajeev; Quinn, Ben (12 July 2016). "Labour executive rules Jeremy Corbyn must be on leadership ballot". Retrieved on 13 August 2016, The Guardian.
9. Bowcott, Owen (28 June 2018). "UK supreme court to get third female justice". The Guardian . Retrieved 5 April 2021.
10. "No. 64960". The London Gazette . 12 January 2026. p. 282.
11. "Lincoln's Inn Great Hall, Ec5 Sales P(relettered)". Baz Manning. 18 May 2015. Retrieved 22 November 2020.