Jack Straw completed one of the most remarkable comebacks in modern British politics today and confirmed he would be the first Lord Chancellor to sit in the Commons.

The minister, who was sidelined by Tony Blair in a demotion from Foreign Secretary, takes over at the Ministry of Justice after the departure of Lord Falconer of Thoroton.

Arriving at the department, Mr Straw moved to reassure about a programme of early release of inmates from jail which begins tomorrow in a bid to ease the jails crisis.

He said: “It is not thousands and thousands [of inmates], it will be a number who will be subject to 18 days’ early release.

“Sentences have got longer in recent years and that is one of the reasons why prison numbers have risen, despite the fact that we have added 20,000 places since we came into power."

Mr Straw made history by becoming the first non-peer to bear the centuries-old title of Lord Chancellor.

His inheritance of the title from Lord Falconer, QC, was made possible - to the fury of traditionalists - thanks to Labour’s 2005 shake-up of the judicial system.

The Constitutional Reform Act, which also created Britain’s first Supreme Court, stripped the role of head of the judiciary from the Lord Chancellor. The move to allow MPs and non-lawyers to take on the role - and title - was approved only after an epic struggle between the Commons and Lords.

Ministers argued that the justice role was “a different job, with different characteristics requiring different qualities” and should be open to a wider range of candidates, not only lawyers with peerages.

Baroness Scotland of Asthal has been named Attorney-General, replacing Lord Goldsmith, QC, becoming the first black woman to hold the post.

Gordon Brown is thought to have approached Liberal Democrats Lord Lester and Lord Carlile about the possibility of taking the job, but their party leader insisted they would not be allowed to take it. Another name hotly tipped was Lord Grabiner, QC, the head of chambers at One Essex Court.

Baroness Scotland has made a habit of blazing a trail throughout her high-flying career. In 1991, she was the first black woman to be made Queen’s Counsel. In 1999, she became the first black woman to serve as a Government minister.

Born in Dominica in 1955, the tenth of twelve children, Baroness Scotland moved with her family to Walthamstow in east London aged three and she studied law at the University of London before being called to the Bar in 1977.

After taking silk, she helped found the 1 Gray’s Inn Square and appeared to be in line for a job as a High Court judge before Tony Blair intervened and elevated her to the House of Lords in 1997.

She served as a minister at the Foreign Office from 1999 to 2001 and was parliamentary secretary in the Lord Chancellor’s department from 2001 until 2003. She then moved to the Home Office as a minister, where she has been given responsibility for crime reduction and taking forward the Prime Minister’s Respect agenda.

One of the first challenges Baroness Scotland will face as Attorney-General is to oversee the decision on whether to bring prosecutions in the cash-for-honours case.

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