His strong defense of the judiciary's independence comes after Prime Minister Tony Blair, speaking recently on the subject of treating suspected terrorists, said the "rules of the game" were changing.

The clash over human rights and national security will play itself out over the autumn, when senior judges are asked to approve the deportation of terror suspects to Algeria and other countries with poor human rights records. Four appeal court judges have already warned anonymously they "won't buckle" by just rubber-stamping the "no torture" deals struck with foreign governments.

The statement yesterday by Lord Phillips, in his first media briefing since taking over from Lord Woolf, makes plain that he will support senior judges who insist it is their job, not that of ministers, to interpret the law.

"Occasionally one feels that an individual politician is trying to browbeat the judiciary, and that is wholly inappropriate. We are all trying to do our job to the best of our abilities," he said at the Royal Courts of Justice.

"I'm taking up this office at a time when it is said in various quarters that judges are in conflict with the government. They are not. Judges are in conflict with no one. The judiciary has a clearly defined role, which is to apply the law as laid down by parliament," said Lord Phillips.