Bar Council head says new DPP is the victim of smear campaign

A politically motivated smear campaign is being waged against the new Director of Public Prosecutions because of he is a colleague of Cherie Blair, the head of the Bar Council warned last night.

Last week, reports appeared that Kenneth Macdonald, QC, was convicted in 1971, when he was 18, of sending 0.1 grammes of cannabis through the post and fined £75. The conviction would have been "spent" in 1976. He was also fined £60 for speeding in February, 2001.

Mr Macdonald's appointment to take over from David Calvert Smith this year was criticised as an example of New Labour "cronyism", because he was a founder member with Mrs Blair of the Matrix chambers, which specialises in human rights and equal opportunities cases. He has also been criticised by the Conservatives for being inexperienced as prosecutor, having specialised in defence briefs, often for those accused of terrorism.

Mathias Kelly, QC, the chairman of the Bar, said Mr Macdonald was an "extremely able lawyer of the greatest integrity.'' He was a "superb appointment", he said.

Mr Kelly added: "The cheap attempts to question his suitability are everything to do with the fact that he happens to practise in the same chambers as the Prime Minister's wife; he is therefore seen as yet another way of 'having a go' at the Blairs. This is stupid and irrelevant to the real issues in justice in society which we must all now address together.''

Mr Kelly said it was wrong to criticise Mr Macdonald for representing terrorists or acting in controversial cases since it was fundamental to the "cab rank" rule of barristers that they represent whoever they are asked to.

The Attorney General's office said last week that Mr Macdonald's conviction had been known to the panel of senior civil servants and a High Court judge who recommended him for the post. It was also disclosed when he joined the Bar and became a QC.

Last night, Home Office minister Hazel Blears, the MP for Salford, also admitted experimenting once with cannabis about 25 years ago. In a clear reference to the issue of Mr Macdonald, she said it should not be regarded as a "life-or-death issue" or it would "exclude some very good people from politics".

She said: "I had cannabis once from somebody I knew and I never did it again because basically it didn't work. It had no effect on me.''