Last Friday was not a good day for our legal aid minister, Lord Bach of Lutterworth.

First his ministerial sidekick, Shahid Malik, became a casualty of the expenses scandal engulfing Westminster. Then he was given a rough ride at a legal aid conference, where he was heckled as he gamely tried to defend the government’s plans for best value tendering.

Bach warned the Criminal Law Solicitors Association gathering not to trust any crowd-pleasing alternatives on offer from his opponents. One delegate shouted: ‘We don’t believe you, either.’

Further attempts to get his message across met with barracking from the audience. After being interrupted by one particularly angry practitioner, Bach said he had never encountered such rudeness. What delicate flowers these former mayors of Lutterworth are.

A cause of his irritation appeared to be Robin Murray, a member of the Criminal Law Solicitors Association committee, who took issue with Bach’s repeated suggestion that the profession had failed to suggest alternatives to best value tendering.

At the close of the session Bach, ungallantly in Obiter’s opinion, claimed the chair had failed to protect him from the audience. Obiter thinks Joy Merriam, the association’s chair, did a sterling job of trying calmly to encourage Bach and his fellow panellist Sir Bill Callaghan, chairman of the Legal Services Commission, to respond to points from the floor. Especially when Callaghan’s sole response seemed to be ‘there’s a consultation going on’.

We humbly suggest that, as the consultation on the best value pilot scheme draws to a close, Bach toughens himself up – perhaps by reading some of the hardboiled American crime fiction to which his entry in Who’s Who says he is partial.