QUEEN IN A FURY OVER IRVINE AXE

THE Queen is livid with Tony Blair over his decision to abolish the post of Lord Chancellor without consulting her or Royal aides.

She was aware Lord Irvine was due to go - but had not been told the 1,400-year-old post would vanish completely.

The Lord Chancellor acts as one of her senior advisers and a "bridge" between the Palace and Parliament and she wants an explanation from No10 on the constitutional implications for the future of the Monarchy.

"The Queen should have been briefed and she is upset that she wasn't," said a senior Palace adviser last night.

"She is entitled to be consulted before major changes like this are made. But she was not asked to approve the abolition of the office of Lord Chancellor."

Palace aides have disclosed that the Queen intends to make her feelings clear at her regular weekly meeting with the Prime Minister on Tuesday.

Buckingham Palace sources say the Queen is worried the changes are part of a whittling away of the monarchy.

The replacement of the Lord Chancellor's role with a new Constitutional Department and a proposed American-style Supreme Court is the biggest constitutional shake-up for centuries. Constitutional expert Lord Norman St John Stevas said it was "dreadful" that the Queen had not been consulted. And shadow Deputy Prime Minister David Davis yesterday accused the PM of treating the judicial system "like his own personal bauble".

Downing Street refused to comment on the Queen's reaction to the abolition of the role of Lord Chancellor.

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