Before the change, High Court Justice Martin Chamberlain, an expert on free speech law, had been set to rule on whether or not to overturn the government’s ban on Palestine Action as a “terrorist” group.

But on Wednesday last week, he was abruptly replaced by a panel of three – Victoria Sharp, Karen Steyn and Jonathan Swift. For a judge to be replaced so close to the hearing date is unusual.

High Court Judge Victoria Sharp’s twin brother Richard Sharp sits on the board of trustees of charity One Million Mentors alongside Trevor Chinn, a key British funder of pro-Israel groups.