Falconer, Charles (1951– )

British Labour politician, Lord Chancellor and secretary of state for constitutional affairs 2003–07, and then briefly the first secretary of state for justice before leaving the cabinet in June 2007. Falconer entered Tony Blair's Labour government in 1997 as solicitor general and was minister of state at the Cabinet Office 1998–2001. During the government's second term, he served as minister for housing, planning, and regeneration 2001–02 and minister for criminal justice 2002–03.

He was educated at Trinity, Glenalmond, in Scotland, and studied law at Cambridge University. He was called to the bar in 1974 and became a successful commercial lawyer. He was made a Lord soon after Labour came into power in June 1997.

A long-time friend and former flatmate of Tony Blair, the two first met during their teens and later worked as barristers in the same building.