Tributes: Lord Mackay of Clashfern

Baroness Prentis of Banbury Excerpts

Thursday 9th July 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord Hope of Craighead (CB)]

My Lords, I would like to add a few words about the truly remarkable way that Lord Mackay performed his duties to the House and the stamina that he exhibited.

Three things were different in Lord Mackay’s day. First, when you looked to the Woolsack, you would see him in his day dress of the full-bottomed wig, the stockings and buckled shoes which he wore every day.

Our timings were different. It was quite usual for the House to sit after 11 pm—indeed, it was not unusual to sit after midnight. I am recorded in Hansard speaking on the Scotland Bill at 2.30 am, but Lord Mackay was always there. He regarded it as his duty to remain on the Woolsack whenever the House sat and for how long it sat.

There was no team of Deputy Chairmen in his day. I think there was one person who could take Lord Mackay’s place when it was necessary, but that team did not exist. The rota of leaving the Woolsack from time to time was not there. I remember one day he sat there for eight hours in an important debate with only 20 minutes’ difference. The stamina he exhibited was quite extraordinary. I never heard him complain. It was his sense of duty that kept him going, and it was a truly remarkable performance.

There were three turns of events in Lord Mackay’s life which made all the difference. First, shortly before he was approached to be Lord Advocate, he had been offered and had accepted the position as a judge in Scotland. The Labour Lord Advocate who gave him that offer began to realise that Labour was going to lose the election, as indeed it did. He said to James, “I’m sorry, I’ve changed my mind”, and all the excitement of the offer of a place on the Bench disappeared overnight and James was very much taken aback. However, because he was not a judge and had not accepted that offer, he was available when Mrs Thatcher approached him and said, “Dean of Faculty, I need your help”, because the other candidate for Lord Advocate was not suitable. It was his five years as Lord Advocate that really cemented his relationship with Mrs Thatcher, which led ultimately to his appointment when Lord Havers fell ill, sadly, as Lord Chancellor. These were three events that all turned out in James’s favour. He was fortunate but, indeed, we were so fortunate too.

[Baroness Prentis of Banbury (Con)]

My Lords, I vividly remember another very hot summer day during the Brexit wars, when the relationship between the Government and the press had broken down. There was no trust and we were struggling with the intricacy of the Northern Ireland protocol. We needed a lawyer who could help.

I was tasked with ringing Lord Mackay, who was a towering figure for all lawyers younger than himself; he really brought us on and mentored us in our profession. I rang him; I swallowed my pride and I explained the issue, which, of course he grasped, in under three seconds. Three minutes later, I saw him trotting out to College Green, where he was able not only to give live press interviews and put the matter to rest, but he spent the next couple of hours in baking sunlight explaining behind the scenes to members of the press how the law worked and what the answer was. We were fortunate to have him in our House for so long.

[The Lord Speaker (Lord Forsyth of Drumlean)]

My Lords, perhaps I might add a few words of my own. As has been said, Lord Mackay of Clashfern brought to public life a wonderful combination of brilliance, courtesy, principle and faith. He was formidable, but never vain. He was learned, but never showy. He was firm in judgment but always humane. He was a proud Scot and a good friend to me.

Robert Burns’s lines, written in 1784, “Epitaph on my own Friend”, uncannily capture why all of us who knew him will miss James so much:

The friend of man, the friend of truth;

The friend of age, and guide of youth:

Few hearts like his, with virtue warm’d,

Few heads with knowledge so inform’d:

If there’s another world, he lives in bliss;

If there is none, he made the best of this.

Our thoughts today are with Bett, who, throughout some 68 years of marriage, was his formidable rock and guide. God bless her and her family at this time.