Lord Falconer gave him a ringing endorsement in interviews yesterday but Clarke himself did admit to being a little rusty.

“I’m completely out of date on issues that are terribly important” he said in an interview with the BBC.

He was called to the Bar in 1963 by Gray’s Inn and took silk in 1980, becoming a QC. And he has served in Parliament for much of his life; he became Conservative MP for Rushcliffe in 1970.

His biggest concern however, was remembering how to put on the robes for his new job of Lord Chancellor, he said he always found the silk stockings difficult.