In his memoirs Simon 1952, p. 255 (Lord Chancellor 1940–1945) writes "It is not constitutionally necessary that the Lord Chancellor should be a Peer (Sir Thomas More was not, for one), but this is practically inevitable, for otherwise he would be limited to the formal business of presiding and "putting the Question" and be unable to take the smallest part in debate. The theory is that the Woolsack itself, and, I suppose, the space immediately in front of it, do not form part of the debating floor, and that is the reason why, when the Lord Chancellor takes part in any discussion – even when only moving the reading of a Bill – he steps nimbly to the left and thus speaks while standing on what is in the full sense Lords' territory." Simon, Viscount John Allsebrook (1952). Retrospect: the memoirs of Viscount Simon. Hutchinson.
