Lord Falconer on the Woolsack as the newly sworn-in Lord Chancellor

He also denied that his position as an unelected peer made his unaccountable.

With controversy raging over his new title as Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs, Lord Falconer also dismissed accusations of "cronyism".

He is a former flatmate of the prime minister, but Lord Falconer said he should be judged on his own merits.

He is a creature of patronage and is not answerable to the House of Commons Labour MP Bob Marshall-Andrews

Both the Wales and Scotland Offices were moved into the newly-created department in Mr Blair's reshuffle on Thursday.

Initial reports suggested both these offices had been scrapped, along with the posts of Welsh and Scottish secretaries.

'A little hazy'

But Downing Street has said that both jobs remain, and civil servants from Wales and Scotland will work in the department, although it did admit that arrangements were "a little hazy".

Lord Falconer also becomes the last Lord Chancellor before the post is abolished and replaced by a Supreme Court and an independent body to appoint judges.

I am just as entitled as anybody else... to show what I am capable of doing Lord Falconer

The peer rejected suggestions that his department was a "ragbag" thrown together by Mr Blair without proper consultation.

He said it was "sensible" for MPs to raise issues on Welsh and Scottish affairs in the Commons with Leader of the House Peter Hain and Transport Secretary Alistair Darling respectively.

Lord Falconer told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "I am a member of the Government, which is accountable to Parliament.

Lord Falconer was no stranger to controversy as Dome minister

"I am accountable to the House of Lords. Alistair Darling and Peter Hain are accountable to the House of Commons.

"There is clear accountability."

He rejected allegations of cronyism: "I have got to be judged on my merits.

"I have been in the Government for six years and I am just as entitled as anybody else in the Government to be given an opportunity to show what I am capable of doing.

"Let me be judged on that basis."

But Labour backbencher Bob Marshall-Andrews described the new arrangements as "a botch, which looks as though it has been put together in panic."

He said: "It totally lacks coherence and clarity.

"It is completely wrong for Charlie (Lord Falconer) to say he should be judged on his merits.