Clearly there was a bit of a kangaroo court, which went through the motions of listening to the evidence and rejecting all of it. Peter Herbert, a civil-rights lawyer, was reprimanded for breaching the Bar’s strict code of conduct after he spoke to the media about a case in which he was involved. The complaint against Herbert, a judge and a member of the Metropolitan Police Force Authority, was made by Lord Laming, who chaired the inquiry into the murder of eight-year-old Victoria Climbi?ord Laming decided to act when he heard Herbert describing as “institutionally racist” the decision to prosecute the social worker Carol Baptiste for failing to give evidence in the Climbi?nquiry. The tribunal ruled his questions irrelevant and went on to find him guilty on all four charges.Last week, another senior barrister found himself on the wrong end of a tribunal ruling. For 20 years, Ley has been a rebellious figure at the Bar, taking every opportunity to expose what he sees as the failings of his ruling body. He even challenged each barrister member of the tribunal panel, including the chairman Judge Henry Blacksell QC, to say what they would have billed. In his defence, Ley argued that his claim for legal aid was no more than other barristers would have charged in similar circumstances.

Last month, he claims, he paid the price for his critical probing of Bar Council affairs when he was fined £1,600 by the profession’s disciplinary tribunal for overcharging in four drink-driving cases.The complaint was brought by Lord Irvine of Lairg, the former Lord Chancellor, who argued that by recklessly over-claiming in these public-funded cases, Ley was guilty of discreditable behaviour. “They were absolutely ghastly and unacceptable and they revolted any normal and decent human being,” he said.He also confirmed plans to improve relations with Muslims. A leaked Whitehall document revealed a project to “win the hearts and minds” of young Muslims amid fears Britain could be harbouring as many as 10,000 al-Qa’ida supporters.. Nigel Ley appears to be the very epitome of an Establishment barrister. The public-school educated advocate, who is an expert in drink-driving law, likes nothing better than a canter across the fields of Leicestershire and Lincolnshire with the Cottesmore Hunt. “It is simply you need to make sure you get this decision right,” he said. “The important thing is we have got to remain there until the job is done.” Mr Blair denied there was a rift between London and Washington over the status of troops after the transfer of power.

But, he conceded: “Iraq is the shadow over our support, there’s no doubt about that, there’s no point in disputing that.”He added that a decision on dispatching more troops was imminent, but denied suggestions it had been put off because of the harm it could do to the Labour vote in the elections. He said the political decisions would be taken by the interim Iraqi administration, but military commanders would be in charge of operations.Hours after The Independent on Sunday revealed the Army was investigating allegations that 10 Iraqi civilians died after ill-treatment by British soldiers, Mr Blair conceded that images of Iraqi prisoners being tortured had been damaging. “We’re at the worst time now and in the months to come, because around the time of the transition these people will be attempting to do whatever they can to disrupt that process,” he said.After falling opinion poll ratings over his performance, he said: “It gets more difficult as you go on as Prime Minister, that’s for sure. But also Iraq has been a very divisive issue.”Mr Blair said campaigning for next month’s local and European elections had demonstrated that voters recognised the Government’s achievements on the economy, jobs and public services. He told BBC1′s Breakfast with Frost: “I would want certainly by the end of next year to have a substantial reduction in the British troop commitment – I would certainly hope so.”Mr Blair warned Iraq was entering the most dangerous phase of its transformation, before the handover of power planned for 30 June. He said a decision on sending more troops – widely believed to be the deployment of another 3,000 soldiers – would be made within weeks.The Prime Minister said he wanted the numbers scaled down by December 2005, but in so doing pushed back the date for the British presence to remain.

Tony Blair forecast yesterday that British soldiers would still be in Iraq in 18 months’ time as he warned the country faced more bloodshed

Tony Blair forecast yesterday that British soldiers would still be in Iraq in 18 months’ time as he warned the country faced more bloodshed.
Although he conceded that the continued violence had cast a “shadow” over the Government’s support, he signalled that Britain’s immediate commitment to Iraq woulddeepen. More than 200,000 ballot papers had to be reprinted in Stockport, Greater Manchester, and 250,000 in Bradford were destroyed – in both cases because of printing errors.The illness of a printer has been blamed for delays in four Tyneside authorities; he has claimed he was “shattered”.The Tories claim the elections could be challenged in court and say Parliament may have to be recalled.. A spokeswoman said it had also raised concerns about the “lack of time for administrators to get all the systems in place”.With voters in the four regions receiving two ballot papers and envelopes and declaration of identity forms, printers are having to handle at least 75 million pieces of paper. He told BBC Radio 4′s The World This Weekend: “It’s yet another example of this government simply failing to listen.