Philip James Sales, Lord Sales, PC (born 11 February 1962) is a Justice of the

Supreme Court of the United Kingdom The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom (initialism: UKSC) is the final court of appeal for all civil cases in the United Kingdom and all criminal cases originating in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, as well as some limited criminal cases ...

. He took office on 14 January 2019.

Early life

He was educated at the

Royal Grammar School, Guildford The Royal Grammar School, Guildford (originally 'The Free School'), also known as the RGS, is a Private schools in the United Kingdom, private selective day school for boys in Guildford, Surrey in England. The school dates its founding to the de ...

Churchill College, Cambridge Churchill College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. It has a primary focus on science, engineering and technology, but retains a strong interest in the arts ...

(BA, 1983), and

Worcester College, Oxford Worcester College ( ) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. The college was founded in 1714 by the benefaction of Sir Thomas Cookes, 2nd Baronet (1648–1701) of Norgrove, Worcestershire, whose coat of arms was ad ...

(BCL, 1984).

Career

He was called to the bar at

Lincoln's Inn The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn, commonly known as Lincoln's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court (professional associations for Barrister, barristers and judges) in London. To be called to the bar in order to practise as a barrister ...

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. This caused "consternation" among senior lawyers, according to ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'', due to his young age. Sales was a practising barrister at 11 King's Bench Walk. At the time of the appointment, there was debate over Sales' appointment. According to ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'', 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". Acting as a barrister Sales defended the New Labour government's decision against holding a public inquiry into the

Iraq War The Iraq War (), also referred to as the Second Gulf War, was a prolonged conflict in Iraq lasting from 2003 to 2011. It began with 2003 invasion of Iraq, the invasion by a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition, which ...

in the High Court in 2005. 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 The High Court of Justice in London, known properly as His Majesty's High Court of Justice in England, together with the Court of Appeal (England and Wales), Court of Appeal and the Crown Court, are the Courts of England and Wales, Senior Cour ...

(Chancery Division) since 2008. He was a

Lord Justice of Appeal A Lord Justice of Appeal or Lady Justice of Appeal is a judge of the Court of Appeal of England and Wales, the court that hears appeals from the High Court of Justice, the Crown Court and other courts and tribunals. A Lord (or Lady) Just ...

from July 2014. In 2016, Sales, as a member of the

Court of Appeal An appellate court, commonly called a court of appeal(s), appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to Hearing (law), hear a Legal case, case upon appeal from a trial court or other ...

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. 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 Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union (TEU) provides for the possibility of an EU member state leaving the European Union "in accordance with its own constitutional requirements". Currently, the United Kingdom is the only state to hav ...

R (Miller) v Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union ''R (Miller) v Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union'' is a United Kingdom constitutional law case decided by the United Kingdom Supreme Court on 24 January 2017, which ruled that the British Government (the executive) might not i ...

. His role in this judgment meant that he appeared in an infamous front-cover of the ''

Daily Mail The ''Daily Mail'' is a British daily Middle-market newspaper, middle-market Tabloid journalism, tabloid conservative newspaper founded in 1896 and published in London. , it has the List of newspapers in the United Kingdom by circulation, h ...

'' (''

Enemies of the People The terms enemy of the people and enemy of the nation are designations for the political opponents and the social-class opponents of the power group within a larger social unit, who, thus identified, can be subjected to political repression. ...

'').

Supreme Court

Lord Justice Sales was appointed as a Justice of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom on 11 January 2019, taking the

judicial courtesy title A courtesy title is a form of address and/or reference in the British system of nobility used for children, former wives and other close relatives of a peer, as well as certain officials such as some judges and members of the Scottish gentry. Thes ...

of Lord Sales.

Personal life

Sales married

Miranda Wolpert Miranda Wolpert, Lady Sales is professor of evidence-based practice and mental health at University College London. She was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire in the 2017 New Year Honours for her work on young people's mental heal ...

in 1988; they have a son and a daughter.

Arms

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sales, Philip 1962 births Living people People educated at Royal Grammar School, Guildford Alumni of Churchill College, Cambridge Alumni of Worcester College, Oxford Fellows of Churchill College, Cambridge Members of Lincoln's Inn Chancery Division judges Judges of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom Knights Bachelor