Tories 'still lack Asian and black candidates'

David Cameron has admitted that the Conservative Party has failed to select as many black and Asian parliamentary candidates as he had hoped when he became leader a year ago.

Of 96 chosen in the past year, only three are from ethnic minorities. Mr Cameron described the figure as "a disappointing 3 per cent", and said: "We need to do a lot better. There are good black candidates coming forward within the Conservative Party, [but] not enough, not as many as I would like. We need to encourage more to come forward."

He announced a drive to monitor the black and ethnic minority "talent pool" available to the party at both council and parliamentary levels.

Although more black members are trying to become Tory candidates, several have failed to win selection after reaching the final shortlist. The party has two ethnic minority MPs, Adam Afriyie and Shailesh Vara, both elected last year. Labour has 13.