Maiden made MP’s speech
Keith Vaz, the Leicester MP, has just edited a book called Rainbow over Westminster, a potted history of ethnic-minority MPs and peers. Despite the odd error, such as listing the Labour firebrand Bernie Grant as a Liberal (and somehow neglecting to mention that the first Asian MP, David Dyce Sombre, was expelled for corruption), it is an interesting read, especially for the excerpts from their maiden speeches.
Marsha Singh, elected in 1997, spoke of suffering an identity crisis after this paper called him “the first Asian woman MP” (sorry . . .), while Adam Afriyie described the thrill of canvassing in Windsor. One door he knocked on was opened by a beautiful woman. “She seemed stunned to see me and