Sir Roger Gale said George Entwistle and Lord Patten may have to 'fall on their swords'

As this newspaper testifies in its founding principles, independence is an excellent thing. But it can drive everybody else mad. Chris Patten, a safe bet as the new chairman of the BBC Trust, has the de haut en bas manner which comes with being above the political fray. Appearing before the Commons select committee, Lord Patten pitched for the job in the manner of Cordelia before King Lear. He could not heave his heart into his mouth.

Labour is demanding that Chris Patten, the Government's choice as the next chairman of the BBC, must resign from the Conservative Party and give up some of his other business and voluntary roles before he takes up the post.

Chris Patten, the former chairman of the Conservative Party and Governor of Hong Kong, is expected to be appointed as the next chairman of the BBC Trust, the organisation's governing body.

Against all odds (and we'll come to the betting below), the race to chair the BBC Trust is shaping into a belter. This is not, despite its occupancy by nebbish quangocrat Sir Michael Whatshisname, a trivial post. The winner will be instrumental, for one thing, in deciding who succeeds Mark Thompson as director general, and is faced with hauling the Beeb out of the post-Hutton abyss of cringing cowardice. Paradox attends the two most distinguished candidates. Chris Patten, although a Tory peer, has the confidence and cussedness to resist a Tory-led government. Jonathan Powell, although ineffably New Labour as Mr Tony Blair's long-serving chief of staff, is an archetypal apparatchik whose mission is to speak emollience to power.

In Getting Our Way, Christopher Meyer, the former British ambassador to Washington, argues for a rejuvenated Foreign Office, based on a clear-eyed vision of the national interest. With some candour, he decries the "daft utopianism of global values" that has diminished the role of British diplomacy.

Lord Heseltine is not on the list. John Major is out of the country, and Nick Clegg has "another engagement". But Lord Howe, whose resignation speech ended Margaret Thatcher's reign in Downing Street, will today be a guest of honour at the former prime minister's 85th birthday party in Downing Street.

Lord Taylor of Warwick, a prominent Tory peer, is to be prosecuted over his expenses, the Crown Prosecution Service announced yesterday.

The Liberals seem to be able to get away with anything

After 6 May, the next government will start from below rock-bottom

Anyone who can talk about values and behave like him deserves a prize for hypocrisy

Brown needs to go for the Conservatives and encourage other ministers to as well

The last British Governor of Hong Kong answers your questions, such as 'Should MPs earn more?' and 'What has been Hong Kong's fate since you left?'