Equal Opportunities And Mugabe

Shame on Gordon Brown for sending Baroness Amos to the EU-Africa summit, despite he and other cabinet ministers boycotting the event in protest at the presence of Zimbabwean dictator Robert Mugabe.

The former Chief Executive of the Equal Opportunities Commission must be left wondering "Is it 'cos I is black?" after every member of the Cabinet declined to attend.

It's not the first time that Gordon has attempted to lose this fine woman in Africa.

Dumping her from the Cabinet when he became Prime Minister, Gordon nominated Valerie Amos to become EU special representative to the African Union. Unfortunately, an independent selection panel decided that Belgian diplomat Koen Vervaeke was a more suitable representative of the EU in Addis Ababa.

Well done to Amos for the dignity with which she has responded to questions about the affair. And for the dignity with which she has responsed to being called "Amos" by some bloggers. Very much like Lord Melbury in Series 1 Episode 1 of Fawlty Towers. Except, of course, that she's not a con artist. And she is, of course, a woman. And black.