Judges and barristers split over call for inquiry

Cherie Blair's handling of the Peter Foster affair drew critical responses from judges and barristers yesterday in a further sign that she may yet face a professional inquiry.

One retired Crown Court judge said the Lord Chancellor, Lord Irvine of Lairg, should call her in to ask her to explain her behaviour. "Even if you accept her version of events she has behaved very unwisely. It calls into question her professional judgement as a judge," he said. "If Lord Hailsham was still Lord Chancellor he would have her out without hesitation."

The Bar Council said it had received a number of complaints from members of the public expressing anger at her behaviour, but there were no grounds for constituting disciplinary proceedings.

Mark Stobbs, secretary of the Bar's professional conduct committee, was reported as saying: "We have had several letters, mostly expressing concern in a general way that she has somehow misused her position. If we receive a formal request to investigate, of course we shall do so."

But one barrister who regularly works with Mrs Blair on commercial cases described the allegations as a "storm in a teacup". He added: "She may have acted unwisely, but this is no hanging offence."

Anthony Scrivener QC, a former chairman of the Bar, said many of the accusations were about the kind of things that barristers did informally, behind the scenes, all the time. He said he did not think she had done anything wrong. Mrs Blair admitted on Tuesday checking the name of the judge who would hear the Foster deportation case in what is thought to have been an attempt to offer her opinion to the Foster camp as to the judge's character traits.

Mrs Blair's dealings with Mr Foster were again plunged into controversy yesterday by claims in The Scotsman that she did give him legal advice. Mrs Blair has consistently denied helping Mr Foster with his case.