"Most painful! The most painful debate in the House of Lords in 50 years!" croaked 79-year-old Baron Merrivale of Walkhampton, fusty onetime Lord Justice of Appeal, last week.
In the oblong, dimly Gothic House of Lords, a furious drama unrolled between two Empire characters each fit to be popped straight into Gilbert & Sullivan. One was the Lord Chief Justice of England, tiny, rolypoly Baron Hewart. The other was the Lord High Chancellor, tall, severe, ascetic Viscount Sankey. Distinctly Gilbertian. with exactly the right lilt, is Lord Sankey's famed remark: "My first brief...
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