Matt Foot, from the alliance, said that they were calling for a boycott to ‘mark the rank hypocrisy’ of the government, which ‘has spent the last five years denying access to justice to tens of thousands of vulnerable people. Now they are organising an international business conference to celebrate the Magna Carta, which established the principle that no one be denied justice.’

The Justice Alliance, which previously mobilised mass protests against the legal aid cuts, will be staging a series of ‘Not the Global Law Summit’ events, including a comedy evening on 23 February, and what is being described as a ‘relay’, from Runnymede, Surrey, the site of the sealing of the charter, to London.

The MoJ’s Global Law Summit will take place from 23 to 25 February. Tickets cost up to £1,750 – a sum which would take a criminal solicitor up to 37 hours of police station attendance to earn. As well as the Ministry of Justice, other summit partners, include the Law Society and Bar Council. Speakers will include the Justice Secretary Chris Grayling, London mayor Boris Johnson, senior judges, and numerous corporate and in house lawyers.

The summit earlier provoked a searing attack by the Telegraph’s chief political commentator Peter Oborne, who condemned it as, ‘sordid, disgusting and debased’. He accused David Cameron’s government of having launched ‘something close to an out-and-out attack on the rule of law.’

Matt Foot said those who have already agreed to speak at the MoJ summit but genuinely care about access to justice should withdraw and attend the Justice Alliance’s ‘Stand up for Legal Aid’ comedy event instead. At £15, the cost of entry is considerably cheaper than for the summit, he added.