Law Society annual conference dinners are normally pretty staid affairs.

And the bash at the centre of this year's Solicitors 2003 event in London appeared to fit the template: posh venue (the Dorchester Hotel) and the usual collection of dignitaries in formal attire.

Then on came the after-dinner entertainment in the shape of camp satirical revue Kit and the Widow.

For the uninitiated, K&W specialise in irreverent songs about current affairs.

Conspiratorially, they announced that 'Harriet [Harman, the Solicitor- General] has left the building', so they could poke fun at the government at liberty.

What they failed to notice was that Harriet's boss, Attorney-General Lord Peter Goldsmith QC, was very much still present and paying careful attention.

Kit and the Widow then produced a rip-roaring mickey-take of the US and UK position in relation to detainees at Guantanamo Bay.

They also had a go at relations between the government and former cabinet minister Robin Cook, who resigned over the Iraq war, and, er, the Attorney- General's legal advice in relation to those hostilities.

Points to Lord Goldsmith for grinning and bearing it, although he looked distinctly uncomfortable throughout and his applause was low-key to say the most.

It remains to be seen whether he gets an easier ride at the Bar Council conference later this month.