Law Society deputy treasurer Robert Sayer has compiled a “wish-list” of changes he wants implemented at Chancery Lane as he comes closer to forging a deal for the presidency with Phillip Sycamore and Michael Mathews.

But a similar two-page wish-list Sayer earlier compiled for Martin Mears has come back to politically embarrass him.

Last Friday, Mears, who has announced he will be standing for president this summer and is angry at what he sees as misleading statements by his one-time colleague, released one paragraph of a two-page letter from Sayer, dated 29 January.

In the letter, Sayer agrees to a suggestion to stand as president with Mears as his deputy. But last week Sayer claimed he had told Mears last December he did not want to stand with him.

Sayer told The Lawyer last Friday that Mears had been hounding him about the presidency and the ill-founded agreement had quickly broken down.

Meanwhile, Sayer has sent his latest set of proposals to presidential candidates Sycamore and Mathews, the current vice- and deputy vice-president respectively. Sayer would not reveal the contents of the wish-list but a tight control on Chancery Lane expenditure is likely to be a key demand.

“I don't want them to think I'm going behind their backs by going public,” he said.

Strong support for the combined ticket from within the Law Society Council and encouragement from Anthony Bogan, the man who was pencilled in to be his running mate, means Sayer is warming to the idea of scrapping his own presidential plans and joining Sycamore and Mathews on the hustings.