Former Lord Chancellor Lord Falconer said he disagreed with Desmond Tutu and Sir Geoffrey.
BBC: Desmond Tutu calls for Blair and Bush to be tried over Iraq
However, the former lord chancellor pledged to support the coalition's constitutional changes "wherever we can".
The lord chancellor is, in effect, the minister of justice for England and Wales.
An intelligent and able debater he became a minister in the Lord Chancellor's department in 1997.
Geoff Hoon is promoted to Minister of State but stays in the Lord Chancellor's Department.
Former Lord Chancellor Lord Falconer had argued assisted suicide was in a legal "no-man's land".
Frankly, if the Lord Chancellor did not exist, no one today would want to invent him.
The Lord Chancellor has promised to put an end to the culture of public secrecy.
The controversy has added fuel to the calls for the office of lord chancellor to be overhauled.
Cardinal Wolsey, who was Archbishop of York and Lord Chancellor, became hugely powerful under King Henry VIII.
The lord chancellor's department and the Labour Party insist that Lord Irvine is not guilty of any wrongdoing.
The constituency was won in 1997 by junior Lord Chancellor's Department minister David Lock with a 7, 000 majority.
He said the Lord Chancellor should have the "discretion" to provide funding for exceptional cases to prevent injustice.
But there is no mandatory retirement age for coroners, and only the Lord Chancellor's office can dismiss one.
BBC: Call for coroner to resign over Teesside inquest delays
Before that, he toiled in the office of Lord Irvine, the Lord Chancellor.
In 1997 Derry Irvine, the current Lord Chancellor, shelved plans for an independent judicial appointments commission with lay members.
The Lord Chancellor has now instituted a review of small claims enforcement procedures.
Lord Chancellor Derry Irvine told peers at the start of a two-day debate of the proposals that reform was "unfinished business".
But the Lord Chancellor, Lord Irvine, defended the reform plans and rejected suggestions they would increase Tony Blair's powers of patronage.
Peculiarly, retired Law Lords, Lord Chancellors and senior judges, in addition to the current Lord Chancellor, can also sit on cases.
There could also be human-rights problems with paid magistrates, who are initially appointed on one-year renewable contracts by the Lord Chancellor.
Mr Blair also admitted he could have handled better the announcement that the historic post of lord chancellor was to be abolished.
As lord chancellor, Lord Irvine is responsible for appointing QCs and judges.
Perhaps, as one (Labour) former lord chancellor put it, the best way to deal with the West Lothian question may be not to ask it.
This section wouldn't be complete without a mention of the Lord Chancellor.
The Lord Chancellor and Lord Chief Justice suggested Dr Reid be removed.
There is strong support in Westminster for many of the lord chancellor's duties to be transferred to an elected minister answerable to MPs.
The guests included David Lloyd George, Winston Churchill, Austen Chamberlain (a former Chancellor of the Exchequer), and Lord Birkenhead, until recently Lord Chancellor.
He told BBC News that the office of lord chancellor had always combined political and judicial roles but these were kept completely separate.
Lord Irvine, the Lord Chancellor, is due next month to publish a bill incorporating the European Convention on Human Rights into British law.
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