One of Britain's most eminent judges yesterday accused the British and US governments of whipping up public fear of terrorism, and of being determined "to bend established international law to their will and to undermine its essential structures".

Lord Steyn, one of the longest-serving law lords in Britain's top court, the House of Lords, made the accusation while delivering his first public comments on the lords' ruling in the Belmarsh case.
He was forced to step down last year from the panel of judges hearing the challenge to the lawfulness of detention without trial for foreign ter rorist suspects after the government took exception to earlier remarks he had made on the subject.