Another day at the LibDem conference- Quentin Letts, Daily Mail,19/09/2007

6.31.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Tue 2nd Oct 2007

The first candidate to speak was a small woman called Chamali Fernando. She is a barrister and, she duly showed, a right firework. "Liberal Democrats, Chamali Fernando, young, fresh and unspun," she began, her voice sure and faintly husky.

I'd say she was just short of 5ft. "It's time to stand up tall and be counted," she growled. You can say that again, sweetheart.

Her hair was luxuriant and beautifully groomed. Her eyes blazed. A smile kept darting round her full lips. "This decision," she said, "is not about your haircut, style or lack of it." And more's the pity, for if it was Ms Fernando would be a fine candidate.

She promised not to be "soft on drugs" (a swipe at Mr Paddick, perchance). She had "the hunger to succeed" (of course).

"If there is negativism in the barracks let us find it, grab it and bin it!" she said, circling a slim finger in the air.

Talking of Labour's Ken Livingstone and the Tories' Boris Johnson, she added: "I will be the rose between two thorns, the flower that blossoms in the eyes of the electorate."

This was cracking stuff.