It was carnage on Essex Street last Monday (16 October) when a procession of freshly scrubbed and over-excited barristers trooped along to Westminster Hall to get silked.
One of Tulkinghorn’s spies reported that the Middle Temple car park was so full of limos it looked like Movida at kicking out time. None of the cars fitted into the bays, so long were they, and two traffic wardens had a field day dishing out tickets to the illegally parked glam wagons. One driver so appreciated their efforts he tried to reverse over them.
Yet in all the chaos, one soon-to-be silk remained a picture of tranquillity and calm. Martin Porter – now QC – of 2 Temple Gardens chose to take a different route to the ceremony. Porter is renowned in chambers for his environmentally friendly stance on life, and decided to ditch the limo and hire a rickshaw for his and his clerk’s journey from chambers to Westminster. Clad in traditional silk’s get-up of breeches and wig, Porter was a tourist attraction, top barrister and planet-saving machine in one.
