Labour holds back law students, Cherie told

Cherie Booth QC was told by the leader of her profession yesterday that her husband was stopping poor students becoming barristers. John- athan Hirst QC, chairman of the Bar, told the Prime Minister's wife that it was a problem caused as a "direct result of deliberate government policy".

Cherie Booth QC was told by the leader of her profession yesterday that her husband was stopping poor students becoming barristers. John- athan Hirst QC, chairman of the Bar, told the Prime Minister's wife that it was a problem caused as a "direct result of deliberate government policy".

Earlier this year, Ms Booth, a prominent employment barrister, criticised the Bar and the judiciary for not doing enough to help poorer students and encourage more ethnic minority lawyers to promotion. She had told a legal meeting in London that unless more was done to help underprivileged students, the Bar would be dominated by white middle-class males. She said some law students faced £20,000 debts trying to qualify.

"The Prime Minister's wife has done much to highlight this issue," Mr Hirst said, at the Annual Conference of the Bar. "But let's be clear - and Cherie Booth please note - it is the result of deliberate government policy to cut grants and force students to borrow instead."

He referred to the Lord Chancellor, Lord Irvine of Lairg, Ms Booth's former pupil-master, as someone who had not been born "a grandee with a silver spoon in his mouth".

The Liberal-Democrat leader, Charles Kennedy, said unless the Government did more to ensure "as many people as possible from all backgrounds" were given the opportunity, the profession would suffer and remain "the preserve of white, middle-class, privately-educated men".

Mr Hirst defended the 26-strong élite group of millionaire barristers, often depicted as fat cats. He said his only complaint was that he was not one of them, and compared other professions, including prostitution, which he called the oldest, adding: "There are always going to be a few high-earners."