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And while there are many influential lawyers who favour radical change, Lord Irvine is not thought to be one of them.
Next week the Law Society will attempt to raise the temperature by hosting a public debate on the controversial and emotively dubbed “secret soundings” – the system where judges, barristers and solicitors are discreetly consulted on the suitability of candidates for judicial posts and the rank of QC.
In the summer the Law Society incurred Lord Irvine’s wrath by launching a boycott of all secret soundings. And even the Bar, from where the vast majority of senior judges are drawn, has conceded the need for change Some reform now seems inevitable. The question is whether it will amount to a cosmetic tinkering or a root and branch overhaul.
Much depends on what Lord Irvine considers will be sufficient to answer the growing number of critics of the present system. Next month Sir Leonard Peach will present the Lord Chancellor with recommendations for improving the current system for appointing judges.
It has already been reported, but not confirmed, that Sir Leonard favours the creation of an independent judicial watchdog to oversee all appointments. Judges and their absurd pronouncements provided a rich vein of surreal humour for John Cleese and friends. But no matter how out of touch the judiciary were portrayed as being, no one at the time really thought there might be a better way of selecting them.

Times have changed. Thirty years ago the only group seriously interested in provoking a debate on the future of the judicial appointments system seemed to be the Monty Python team.

But no matter how out of touch the judiciary were portrayed as being, no one at the time really thought there might be a better way of selecting them. Judges and their absurd pronouncements provided a rich vein of surreal humour for John Cleese and friends. Thirty years ago the only group seriously interested in provoking a debate on the future of the judicial appointments system seemed to be the Monty Python team. Manufacturing still made up some 60 per cent of UK exports and 20 per cent of gross domestic product, he will argue.
Sir Ken will tell the conference, which is also sponsored by the Manufacturing Science Finance union, that while hi-tech industries were essential, manufacturing was also both creative and a “wealth creator”.. He will also call for enhanced stamp duty rates on house transactions and a clampdown on banks and building societies which lend as much as 130 per cent of the value of properties.
The general secretary of the Amalgamated Engineering and Electrical Union said yesterday that he would be “an unyielding critic of anyone or anything that would make it more difficult for the manufacturing sector to grow”.
Sir Ken will also point out that while it is important for the Government to back the hi-tech sector, it was also critical for ministers to be aware of the contribution made by more traditional industries.
He will point out that some 3.8 million people are still employed in industries such as aerospace, chemicals and motor manufacturing.

The Government will today be urged to clamp down on speculators who are helping to fuel rocketing prices of property in the South-east. The Government will today be urged to clamp down on speculators who are helping to fuel rocketing prices of property in the South-east.

Sir Ken Jackson, engineering workers’ leader and one the Prime Minister’s most loyal allies in the union movement, will say that the Government has failed to tackle house price inflation around London and will warn that it is indirectly hitting manufacturing indsutry.
In particular ministers should take action to identify those people who simply “buy and sell” for profit and ensure they are subject to capital gains tax.
Sir Ken, seen as the most “Blairite” union leader, will tell a “manufacturing industry summit” today that between 7 and 8 per cent of those in the South-east property market move on within 18 months and are artificially pushing up property prices.
Such property dealing increases interest rates and damages British industry, Sir Ken will tell an audience of ministers, industrialists and trade unionists. Think about whether you want a candidate whose past and present shows that he wants office but not responsibility, a platform for opposition not the obligations of governing’, said Mr Kinnock.
As well as the three better known potential candidates, Islington businessman Ken Baldry will also be interviewed by the selection board.
The shortlist drawn up by the panel will go to the party’s electoral college of MPs, trade unionists and members, which will decide who will be Labour’s official candidate to take on the Conservative challenger, Lord Archer, and the Liberal Democrat contestant, Susan Kramer.. He is a democratic socialist who we can all trust to be a strong advocate for London who will be listened to, and a leader for London who will represent the breadth of the capital’s community’.
Mr Kinnock said of Mr Livingstone: ‘His leadership of the GLC (Greater London Council) gave daily substance to the ‘Loony Left’ stories that drove people away from Labour.
‘I’m asking my fellow Labour Party members to remember all that. I’m not going to support passing a third of our Tube to Railtrack,’ said Mr Livingstone.
‘I’m making it clear in my manifesto, that will be circulated when people get the ballot paper, I want to keep the Tube in the public sector as one organisation,’ he said.
Meanwhile former Labour leader Neil Kinnock, now the EU’s Transport Commissioner, joined the list of senior party figures backing Mr Dobsonÿs campaign – and attacking Mr Livingstone’s bid.
Mr Livingstone is expected to face a concerted campaign of attacks if he does make it on to the shortlist.
In a letter to Labour Party members in London, Mr Kinnock said: ‘I have worked with Frank as a friend and comrade for over 20 years. I would be happy to campaign for either of them’, said Mr Livingstone.
But today’s Guardian/ICM poll suggests that Mr Dobson’s support among Labour voters slipped over the last month, to the point where he is now trailing in third place behind Ms Jackson.
The poll found that if Mr Livingstone were Labour’s official candidate next May, he would defeat the Tory candidate, Lord Archer, winning the contest with 63% of the vote to Lord Archerÿs 25%, with Liberal Democrat Susan Kramer in third place on 12%.
It found that even as an independent, Mr Livingstone would come within a whisker of winning the contest outright, with 49% of first preference votes.
A run-off would use the supplementary vote system, which would see the second preferences of the third and fourth placed candidates transferred to the top two candidates.
In that scenario, Mr Livingstone would beat the second-placed Lord Archer by 72% to 28%.
The poll found that Mr Dobson could win the contest, if Mr Livingstone’s name is not on the ballot paper next May.
In a straight contest between Mr Dobson, Lord Archer and Ms Kramer, Mr Dobson would gain 44% of the vote first time around, and come through by 55% to Lord Archer’s 45% in a second round vote.
The poll, of 1,003 adults in London, found that Mr Livingstone’s support among Labour voters in London was now at 53%, compared with Ms Jackson’s 18%, and Mr Dobson’s 14%.
Last night Mr Livingstone stressed that he would continue to be an independent voice, ready to disagree with the Labour leadership when necessary.
ærsquo;’hat do you have MPs for? If all we are supposed to do is simply rubber-stamp whatever the Government brings forward, then you could get rid of us all and save an awful lot of money’, he told Channel 4 News.
Mr Livingstone reiterated that he thought the Government should have increased the top rate of tax, and kept interest rates lower.
He also acknowledged being at odds with the Labour leadership over its plans for the partial privatisation of the London Tube system.
‘I’m totally opposed to privatisation.