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PS - to complete the story, there are 8 or 9 requirements to be met before HMRC agree a disbursement can be excluded from the VAT charge, of which the most pernicious is"Your client was responsible for paying the third party (examples include estate duty and stamp duty payable by your client on a contract to be made by the client)" - i.e. if the service provider can not sue the client (because the identity has not been revealed) if the solicitor doesn't pay then it can never be a disbursement. However I believe that can be resolved by proper examination of the laws of agency, particularly the 'semi secret' kind.
More pertinently, there has been no discussion on the VAT reclaim - if a solicitor does not reclaim the VAT on the disbursement, because that is what he believes it is, then, if he is now to be charged to VAT on those disbursements, he should be able reclaim the VAT he has already paid, making the whole process self defeating.