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I was a lawyer and Mr Maloney makes a fair point.

However, I see a distinction between expressions of disapproval made forcefully, and even with a degree of menace, by groups of individuals - as happens quite often against judges in demonstrations outside courts - and the deliberate placing of a banner headline with accompanying photographs and snide biographical details read by the Mail's subscribers and anyone not visually impaired who passed a newsstand.

The headline was not dissimilar to headlines in papers that espoused violence against ethnic groups or classes before the war. It is always easy to find and grotesquely misrepresent scapegoats.

It is possible that had there not been the outpouring of abhorrence that others (and in other contexts) in the press would have followed suit. Ms Truss's silence and that of more senior figures in government and parliament gave - and still give me - cause for concern.

The headline was untrue and unfair and Mr Dacre must carry the can for it.