PANORAMA, SHAILESH VARA

I have just finished watching a superb edition of Panorama on the Hutton Report. It is quite clear that although the BBC made mistakes in their reporting, Blair and Hoon are in it up to their necks. My fear is that Hoon will be used as Blair's fall guy and I think Hoon himself knows that is what is going to happen. Apparently the Hutton Report itself will cost a massive £50. My company is publishing a book on the Report within two weeks of publication. A few people will certainly be burning the midnight oil.

My good friend Shailesh Vara has been selected as the Conservative Candidate in North West Cambridgeshire to succeed Brian Mawhinney. The fact that a Ugandan Asian has been selected in a safe seat, an Indian has been selected in Enoch Powell's old seat and British West Indian has been selected in Windsor must surely put to rest the old canard that we only select married white males with 2.4 children and a Volvo in the drive. A quarter of all our candidates are now women. And we've done this with no positive discrimination at all. The LibDems have virtually no women in safe seats and no ethnic candidates either.