It's a Harlow tradition that our conference representatives meet for breakfast at least once during the week, and today's the day - four of us, plus colleagues Peter and Mike, have a working breakfast at the hotel and discuss our local campaigning plans.

Today's agenda in the hall includes some heavy topics: proposals for reform of the constitution, road pricing and carbon emissions.

But the topic that's raised most interest is a proposal from the party president that in any constituency with more than 10 per cent ethnic minority population, the Liberal Democrats should be required to include at least one person from an ethnic minority in its shortlist for choosing its parliamentary candidate.

There are speeches for and against; I'm not in favour of the proposal, as it seems flawed to me. Ethnic minority candidates should be encouraged and supported to come forward naturally and be selected on their own merits, not used as tokens. It's the same reason why, as a woman parliamentary candidate, I've always opposed all-women shortlists. Several speakers from ethnic minorities make the same point in the debate, and the proposal is defeated.

At lunchtime, I attend a meeting to hear from several different speakers about different ways in which they manage business in their council groups. And in the evening, a fascinating meeting of the party's agents with the Electoral Commission, and MP John Hemming who successfully revealed the extent of organised postal ballot fraud by a number of Labour candidates in Birmingham, resulting in a major court case and a by-election for six Birmingham council seats. (The judge in the case said the evidence of electoral fraud 'would disgrace a banana republic').