Philip Sales

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Philip Sales

Born 1962
Nationality British
Occupation Judge; former government barrister
Known for Deputy President of the UK Supreme Court, 2026–; First Treasury Counsel, 2006–08; counsel for the Serious Fraud Office in the BAE Systems Al Yamamah case

Philip Sales (Lord Sales, born 1962) is Deputy President of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom, and sat on the appeal by Huda Ammori against the proscription of Palestine Action, heard on 4 and 5 November 2026.[1] He was one of the three justices who granted Ammori permission to appeal, on 29 July 2026, on the ground of whether proscription was compatible with Articles 10 and 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights.[2] Before the bench he spent eleven years as the government's leading barrister in civil cases.

Government counsel

He was called to the Bar at Lincoln's Inn in 1985 and practised from 11KBW, where he was a junior to Derry Irvine.[3] He was First Treasury Junior Counsel (Common Law) from 1997 to 2006 and First Treasury Counsel from 2006 to 2008.[4] Legal Cheek reported that his 1997 appointment, made while Irvine was Lord Chancellor, drew press complaints of "cronyism".[3]

His cases for the government included:

  • Al Yamamah and BAE. He led for the Director of the Serious Fraud Office in R (Corner House Research) v Director of the SFO, the challenge to the decision to end the investigation into BAE Systems over the Al Yamamah arms deals with Saudi Arabia. He appeared in the Divisional Court in February 2008, with Karen Steyn among his juniors, and in the House of Lords, where the government won in July 2008.[5][6] The Guardian reported that Sales told the court Britain could not "compel Saudi Arabia to adopt a different stance" after Saudi threats over the investigation, and that the SFO director could not "magic this situation away".[7] Steyn, as Mrs Justice Steyn, later sat on the Divisional Court that heard Ammori's challenge at first instance.[2]
  • Iraq. He appeared for the Secretary of State for Defence in Al-Skeini [2007] UKHL 26, on the deaths of Iraqi civilians including Baha Mousa, and for the government in Gentle [2008] UKHL 20, where the families of soldiers killed in Iraq sought an inquiry into the legality of the war.[8][9]
  • Control orders. He appeared for the Home Secretary in SSHD v E [2007] UKHL 47, on a control order made against a man previously held at Belmarsh. Raza Husain, now Ammori's counsel, was on the other side.[10][11]

Judicial career

He was appointed to the High Court (Chancery Division) in 2008 and chaired the Competition Appeal Tribunal from 2008 to 2019. He was Vice-President of the Investigatory Powers Tribunal, which hears complaints against the intelligence agencies, from 2014 to 2015, and Deputy Chair of the Boundary Commission from 2009 to 2014. He became a Lord Justice of Appeal in 2014, joined the Supreme Court in January 2019 and became Deputy President in January 2026.[4] In 2025 he became Visitor of Churchill College, Cambridge.[12]

Rulings on Israel boycotts, protest and security

  • BDS and pension funds. In R (Palestine Solidarity Campaign) v Secretary of State for Housing [2020] UKSC 16 the majority quashed government guidance that barred local government pension schemes from boycotts and divestment "against foreign nations and UK defence industries". Sales and Lady Arden gave a joint dissent that would have upheld the guidance.[13]
  • Arms fair protest. In DPP v Ziegler [2021] UKSC 23 the majority restored the acquittals of protesters who had blocked a road to the DSEI arms fair. Sales, joined by Lord Hodge, dissented in part and would have sent the cases back rather than restored the acquittals.[14]
  • Security and legacy cases. He sat on Begum [2021] UKSC 7, which found for the Home Secretary, and on AAA [2023] UKSC 42, which ruled against the Rwanda policy.[15][16] In McQuillan [2021] UKSC 55 he co-wrote the joint judgment allowing the appeals of the Chief Constable and the Northern Ireland Secretary, which held that police were not obliged to investigate the authorisation of the ill-treatment of the "Hooded Men" in 1971.[17]
  • Sanctions. With Lady Rose he gave the leading judgment in Shvidler [2025] UKSC 30, which upheld a Russia sanctions designation as proportionate. Lord Leggatt dissented.[18]

Interests

The Supreme Court does not publish a register of the justices' interests.[19] No link to Israel, Jewish communal bodies or arms companies, beyond the cases above, was found in the public record.

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ UK Supreme Court, R (on the application of Ammori) v Secretary of State for the Home Department, UKSC 2026/0099, case page, accessed 5 November 2026.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 3VB, Can Yeginsu acts for English PEN and PEN International as the Supreme Court hears the Palestine Action proscription appeal, 4 November 2026.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 CJ McKinney, Lord Sales sworn in as newest Supreme Court judge, Legal Cheek, 14 January 2019.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 UK Supreme Court, Lord Sales, biography, accessed 5 November 2026.
  5. ↑ Transcript of proceedings, R (Corner House Research and Campaign Against Arms Trade) v Director of the Serious Fraud Office, Divisional Court, 15 February 2008.
  6. ↑ House of Lords, R (Corner House Research) v Director of the Serious Fraud Office [2008 UKHL 60], 30 July 2008.
  7. ↑ Louise Radnofsky and agencies, Britain powerless over Saudi threats, BAE review told, Guardian, 15 February 2008.
  8. ↑ House of Lords, Al-Skeini v Secretary of State for Defence [2007 UKHL 26], 13 June 2007.
  9. ↑ House of Lords, R (Gentle) v Prime Minister [2008 UKHL 20], 9 April 2008.
  10. ↑ House of Lords, Secretary of State for the Home Department v E [2007 UKHL 47], 31 October 2007.
  11. ↑ Palestine Action tactics compared to suffragettes at UK supreme court, Guardian, 4 November 2026.
  12. ↑ Churchill College, Lord Sales (Philip Sales), accessed 5 November 2026.
  13. ↑ UK Supreme Court, Press summary: R (Palestine Solidarity Campaign Ltd) v Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, 29 April 2020.
  14. ↑ UK Supreme Court, Press summary: DPP v Ziegler and others, 25 June 2021.
  15. ↑ UK Supreme Court, R (Begum) v Special Immigration Appeals Commission, case page.
  16. ↑ UK Supreme Court, R (AAA and others) v Secretary of State for the Home Department, case page.
  17. ↑ UK Supreme Court, Press summary: In re McQuillan, McGuigan and McKenna, 15 December 2021.
  18. ↑ UK Supreme Court, Shvidler v Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs: press summary, 29 July 2025.
  19. ↑ UK Supreme Court, Justices' financial interests, accessed 5 November 2026.
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