Role play

The Attorney-General, Lord Goldsmith QC, took the clever approach to after-dinner speaking at last week's Commerce & Industry Group annual beanfeast at the Cafe Royal in London.

First, he spoke before dinner, therefore benefiting from a relatively sober audience.

Second, he kept it brief, with one serious point and one joke.

The serious point came in the shape of a passing reference to the Enron-Andersen debacle.

Conflict of interest is 'very important' for professional advisers, said the AG gravely, and the overriding mantra should be: 'Independence, independence, independence.' The joke took the form of a definition of the difference between his role and that of the Solicitor-General.

According to Mr Goldsmith, the current SG, Harriet Harman QC, has said that, sitting in the House of Commons, she is constantly badgered in the tea rooms for advice on divorce.

While, on the other hand, the AG, in the other place, has to fend off questions relating to wills and probate.