Credit to Justin Jacobs of the Association of British Insurers (ABI) for stepping into the lion's den at the Motor Accident Solicitors Society (MASS) annual conference last week, returning the compliment to outgoing MASS chairman Tim Gorman, who received a frosty reception recently when speaking at an ABI conference.


Mr Jacobs had the unenviable task of trying to convince a, shall we say, sceptical audience that insurers are not the bad guys, and that the ABI's 'care and compensation' proposals to overhaul the claims system are not the devil's work. He got arguably the biggest laugh of the day for saying 'new research shows insurers can be trusted', but had already been undermined by some clever conference staging. As he went up to deliver his address, strains of the Kaiser Chiefs' 'I predict a riot' floated out over the PA, and as he took his seat afterwards, it was the turn of the Rolling Stones and 'You can't always get what you want'.



However, when it comes to unpopular people in the personal injury world, Andy Wigmore - the PR man turned policy director at the Claims Standards Council - made a strong case for his own inclusion, at least among rogue claims farmers unhappy at their forthcoming regulation. In fact, he revealed to delegates that one personal injury magazine had voted him more unpopular than Norwich Union's Dominic Clayden, the defendant lawyer claimant solicitors love to hate, which is saying something. Mr Wigmore, who seemed remarkably cheerful and sanguine in the circumstances, said there had been 43 direct telephone threats to council staff - mostly him - over the past year, while he has also been landed with four libel writs. Plus the offices have been burgled, he was sent a paving slab with a jolly accompanying note, expressing hope that he would 'slip, trip and break your f&150;ing neck', and least pleasant of all, he was sent a large pile of dog's muck.



Happily, he could be sure that nothing similar would be forthcoming at the MASS conference. There is only one nemesis for this group of lawyers, even though there were efforts to be nice publicly. As Bill Braithwaite, a QC who specialises in acting for claimants, put it, 'I'm not allowed to say to you that all insurers are bastards'.