I've been into dangerous areas before without having to call for the assistance of Mr Cousins," she added. "I think he's been got at by the whips, and that he thinks his best method of defence and his best interests are served by launching completely unfounded and silly attacks on me."The row descended further into a game of chicken when she was supported by Clive Furness, secretary of the Campaign Against Repression and For Democracy in Iraq, who was also on the trip: "Jim was extremely anxious about travelling the final stage of the journey in the dark," he said. He even came home 12 hours early having taken fright." She described travelling through an area where they were bombarded by Saddam Hussein's troops. While they were away they missed several three-line- whip votes. On their return at the weekend, Mr Cousins accepted his removal from Labour's foreign affairs team with enthusiastic humility, while Ms Clwyd complained bitterly that she had been victimised by the whips.Mr Cousins said: "I am not whingeing one iota, and I strongly recommend that Ann doesn't whinge either," and added that he had stayed on in Iraq to "protect" Ms Clwyd from herself.Ms Clwyd said yesterday: "The idea he went out to protect me is ludicrous. Ann Clwyd and Jim Cousins, dismissed from the frontbench on Monday for visiting Turkey and northern Iraq without permission from the Labour whips, each claimed they had to hold the other's hand on their mission to Kurdish guerrilla territory. The fallout from Tony Blair's first sackings of Labour spokespeople turned into farce yesterday as the two disciplined MPs heaped insults on each other.

But MPs had clearly got the message that Mr Clarke was not in a receptive mood about the demands for rolling tax cuts, in spite of the apparent support for them by Jeremy Hanley, the party chairman.Mr Clarke told the 80 MPs at the meeting that he would consider the idea, but he was "sceptical" about becoming the first Chancellor to commit himself to tax cuts two years in advance.. It is very important that he has the support of the backbenchers in the next spending round, and there was widespread agreement for that."Some Tory MPs at the meeting called for cuts in social security spending and for tax cuts to be directed at the family, rather than continued subsidies for single parents. The Government must first regain its reputation for economic competence. That meant delivering lasting economic growth.He warned the MPs and ministerial colleagues not to get into a situation where tax-cutting proposals were floated at the same time as speculation about a £1bn spending increase in education.That was seen as a sideswipe at Gillian Shephard, the Secretary of State for Education, who has made clear to the Prime Minister she could not tolerate another tight spending round before the election, which could lead to more unrest in the classrooms.John Townend, the chairman of the committee, said: "It is not sensible to talk about specific tax cuts by a specific date at this stage We are now in April, the Budget is not until November We don't know what the picture is going to look like. There was no point in floating proposals for tax cuts now, he said. The Cabinet and senior Tory backbenchers were told by the Chancellor last night to damp down speculation about specific tax cuts, to avoid stoking expectations for the Budget. Kenneth Clarke made it clear at a meeting of Tory backbenchers that the demands for a commitment to a fixed rolling programme of tax cuts were unrealistic.

"We are on course for tax cuts - let's not have a fight over when," he said. The Chancellor was keen to return to the formula that tax cuts could be made when "it is prudent to do so", to answer criticism that the expectations, fanned by the Prime Minister and Mr Clarke, suggested the Government was abandoning its economic principles to bribe the electorate at the next general election.Mr Clarke impressed on MPs at a packed meeting of the Tory backbench finance committee that there would only be room for tax cuts providing the Government kept a firm grip on borrowing, and that would require tight control of public expenditure.He was given a traditional desk-banging reception, and won the support of the MPs for tough spending controls to come. He fell within the definition of public officer laid down in the authorities. The submission that his position was too lowly to qualify was no. No case limited the offence to officers or agents of the Crown.The appellant was accountable for the receipt and disbursement of public money derived by the council either from rates or from central government grants His salary was paid from the same public funds. The premises were let to the appellant's lady friend.Anthony Barker QC (Registrar of Criminal Appeals) for the appellant; James Burbridge (CPS) for the Crown.LORD JUSTICE HIRST said that the theme which ran through the cases over the past 200 years was that a "man accepting an office of trust concerning the public is answerable criminally to the King for misbehaviour in his office".Henly v The Mayor and Burgesses of Lyme (1828) 5 Bing 91, although a civil case, correctly defined a public office as embracing "everyone who is appointed to discharge a public duty, and receives compensation in whatever shape, whether from the Crown or otherwise". He was convicted of dishonestly causing, when a holder of public office, work to be carried out at premises when those works were not required under the council's policy. Regina v Bowden Court of Appeal (Criminal Division) (Lord Justice Hirst, Mr Justice Hidden and Mr Justice Mitchell) 24 February 1995 The common law offence of misconduct in public office is not limited to officers or agents of the Crown but applies also to local authority employees. The Court of Appeal dismissed the appellant's appeal against conviction of misconduct in a public office.The appellant was employed by the Stoke-on-Trent City Council as the miscellaneous maintenance manager of the city works department, the council's direct labour organisation.

It could not be said that the service of collective bargaining was an essential union service or that membership of a union unable to offer that service was valueless or insignificant.LORD BROWNE-WILKINSON agreed with the construction of "action" but expressed no view on the purpose issue.LORD SLYNN dissented on the construction of "action" and would have read section 23(1)(a) as including omission, but agreed the relevant purpose was not established.LORD LLOYD dissented on the construction of "action" but agreed there was no evidence that the employers' purpose was to prevent or deter union membership LORD KEITH agreed with LORD BRIDGE.Ying Hui Tan, Barrister. The decision in National Coal Board v Ridgway would be overruled.There was no evidence to suggest the employers were seeking to induce the employees to give up their membership. In both cases the employees retained the right to membership of a trade union.The employees who refused to sign individual agreements claimed that action (short of dismissal) had been taken against them by the employer for the purpose of preventing or deterring them from being a member of an union or penalising him for doing so, in contravention of section 23(1)(a).Two issues arose: (1) whether "action" within section 23 should be construed to include omission; (2) whether the employers' purpose was to deter union membership.Nicholas Underhill QC and Brian Napier (Farrer & Co) for ANL; John Hendy QC and Jennifer Eady (Stephens Innocent) for ANL's employees; Patrick Elias QC and Nigel Griffin (RV Pearce) for ABP; Jeffrey Burke QC and Peter Clark (Pattinson & Brewer) for ABP's employees.LORD BRIDGE said that the courts below were bound by the decision in National Coal Board v Ridgway [1987] ICR 641 to accept the proposition that, under section 23(1) construed with section 153(1), if an employer conferred a benefit on employee A which he withheld from employee B, the omission to confer the benefit on B might amount to "action (short of dismissal) taken against" B.A close examination of the legislative history refuted the submission that the policy of the relevant employment legislation consistently outlawed discrimination in any form against employees on account of their union membership.It was impossible to hold that withholding from the employees to the appeals the benefits conferred on some of their fellow employees was capable of amounting to a contravention of section 23(1). In the second case employees were offered the alternative of individual contracts or continuing with collective bargaining, but those who chose individual contracts achieved greater pay increases. His own, with the City firm Herbert Smith, were secured, he says, with the help of his involvement with LPC..

Associated Newspapers Ltd v Wilson; Associated British Ports v Palmer, House of Lords (Lord Keith of Kinkel, Lord Bridge of Harwich, Lord Browne-Wilkinson, Lord Slynn of Hadley and Lord Lloyd of Berwick) 16 March 1995 Giving a higher salary to employees who gave up collective pay bargaining and signed personal contracts did not by itself amount to action by the employer to deter union membership. The House of Lords allowed appeals by the employers and dismissed claims that the employers had infringed the employees' rights under section 23(1)(a) of the Employment Protection (Consolidation) Act 1978.The employers wished to enter individual contracts with their employees. In the first case they terminated the house agreement and offered a pay increase to those who signed individual contracts before a certain date. A year ago, he set up Legal Practice Clerks (LPC), which provides solicitors with back-up support. The company has 450 people on its books, mainly fellow students, who are financing their vocational training as well as gaining experience which, Mr Blair believes, will improve their chances of finding articles. "The main aims of the new scheme are that it is not a dead end: with proper training and supervision, we hope it will be the foot of a ladder of qualifications."Richard Blair, who has just finished the legal practice course, offers a novel approach to paralegal work. Increasingly, law graduates see being a paralegal as a worthwhile career, especially on the computer side.But working as a paralegal need not be an end in itself, says Nick Saunders. "In big litigation cases, we do use temps, but our aim is to have a large core of permanent paralegals on the US model."Mr Bacon says he supports the Law Society's move to introduce qualifications for paralegals, but adds: "We don't let them loose until they know what they are doing, and anyway, they work under the guidance of qualified solicitors."The backgrounds of these paralegals varies: some are IT specialists, and a large number are law graduates.