Bagehot: David Cameron's race problem

AFTER failing to win the 2010 general election, Conservative leaders came to a sobering conclusion. To win majorities in future, the party needs more MPs like Paul Uppal—a state-educated Sikh entrepreneur who cut across class and ethnic lines to snatch the seat of Wolverhampton South West from Labour.

Mr Uppal only half-agrees. Addressing an away-day for Tory MPs on February 24th, he reported a perception among ethnic minorities that Conservatives are “disengaged” from their concerns. A dapper, clean-shaven figure, Mr Uppal drew their attention to Canada, where a namesake, Tim Uppal, is a Conservative minister, resplendent in a bushy black beard and turban. Our party has a way to go, he declared, looking forward to the day when that style of Uppal speaks for a British Tory government. The line was warmly received, but was, for all that, a rebuke.