Demand_for_Lord_Irvines_head_after_fundraising_row

The scandal, first broken by Marcel Berlins in his column in The Guardian, rather than The Sunday Times as we reported last week, led to...The scandal, first broken by Marcel Berlins in his column in The Guardian, rather than The Sunday Times as we reported last week, led to calls for Lord Irvines head from not only opposing politicians but also many of the papers.

The Mirror (20 February) accused Lord Err-vine of being more self-important than the Emperor Caligula and abusing his position, crossing the line between that of being the head of the judiciary and simply being a party hack.

The Lord Chancellor was described variously as an arrogant, thin-skinned bully who regards criticism as tantamount to treason (The Sun, 19 February), and, in typically populist terms, by The News of the World as the weakest link (17 March).

The tabloids came into their own, with Richard Littlejohn in The Sun claiming that this stuck-up old buffer is so far up himself that if he coughs he is in grave danger of turning himself inside out (20 February).Slightly more controlled criticism was found in the broadsheets, with The Telegraph (21 February) focusing on the eclectic rag bag of powers that the Lord Chancellor has, and The Financial Times (20 February) agreeing that although he behaved foolishly, the arguments for replacing this increasingly obsolete post with a minister for justice in the Commons are gaining ground.

The Guardian (20 February) said that although the mighty Lord Chancellor has once again put his stockinged foot in it do not dismiss Derry get rid of his job instead.

The Sunday Times (25 February) declared that the writing is on the wallpaper: Lord Irvine has been rumbled, and both he and his antique powers are obsolete in 21st century Britain.Despite this PR disaster, Labours love affair with the law shows little sign of abating, as figures released by the Treasury Solicitors Department show that the number of lawyers employed by Labour has increased by more than a third since it came to power nearly four years ago.

The Independent (26 February) put this rise down to Whitehall meeting the legal needs of a growth in the number of compensation claims and Labours ambitious reform programme.At the same time, The Times (26 February) predicted that Chancellor Gordon Brown would target professionals fees especially those of lawyers during his budget next week following delivery of the Office of Fair Trading report into competition in the professions.

Home Secretary Jack Straw got the better of two convicted killers who sought to strip him of his powers to increase their minimum sentences under the right to a fair trial in the Human Rights Act.

The Times (23 February) described the governments relief at the verdict, as a decision against the Home Secretary could have led the way for many of the most notorious criminals to be freed.

One of the judges ruling in this test case, former Bar Council chairman Mr Justice Penry-Davey, nearly failed to make it to court, as he was attacked by a gang of teenage muggers on his way to the train station en route to the High Court.

However, 6ft 7in Sir David, the High Court judge who made teenage muggers look like mugs (Daily Express, 23 February), despite being punched in the face with such force his glasses shattered, gave chase to the gang and managed to retrieve his stolen wallet and got a full description of his attackers.

And finally, a word of warning to people currently flocking to use the new wave of legal Web sites: their accuracy should not always be taken as read, as The Financial Times (26 February) discovered when it typed in the words offshore company to an unnamed and thankfully still under construction sites useful words and phrases page.

The definition came back as a company that does all its business on board ships.Victoria MacCallum