Highlighting free hospitality and schmoozing enjoyed by ministers is a cheap journalistic shot, which is why Obiter is happy to indulge.

This month saw the latest quarterly list published by the Ministry of Justice of ministerial gifts, hospitality, overseas travel and meetings. Sadly, the figures go only to the end of July 2011. But a quick totting up of the department’s record since the coalition came to power makes for interesting reading.

Not surprisingly, there is a correlation between power and number of invitations. In the 14 months from May 2010, justice secretary Ken Clarke enjoyed or endured the following free meals: 18 lunches, 13 dinners, three receptions, one supper and one breakfast. Oh, and some British Grand Prix tickets courtesy of the Motor Sports Association.

Clarke dined 21 times with members of the media and 12 times with various lobby groups or representative bodies. One dinner was jointly hosted by accountancy firm Deloitte and banking giant Goldman Sachs. As for other justice ministers, Lord McNally had the best record of positive RSVPs, with 18 lunches or dinners and an overnight stay in Scotland courtesy of the BBC. Oddly, his register also includes a private screening of the Michael Douglas flick Wall Street, provided by News International.

Further down the food chain, Crispin Blunt and Jonathan Djanogly were wined and dined a total of 22 times. Eight of the invitations came from media organisations.

You might expect most of the schmoozing to be done with the sector the ministers are supposed to be reforming. Not so.

According to the register, Djanogly was the only justice minister actually to eat or drink with a law firm in the period - registering a dinner with defendant firm Keoghs in January 2011.