Young, fresh and unspun! - Ros Taylor, Guardian Unlimited, 19/09/2007

6.19.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Tue 2nd Oct 2007

"This must be breaking every fire regulation they've got," said a worried Liberal Democrat sitting behind me.

The room was packed. We foolish hacks assumed that Brian Paddick, the former high-flier at the Met who fell foul of the Daily Mail because of his homosexuality and his soft line on cannabis, would be the star attraction at today's mayoral hustings in Brighton. Not if Chamali Fernando had anything to do with it.

"Liberal Democrats!" snapped the 28-year-old barrister. "Chamali Fernando! Young, fresh and unspun! I am the symbol of modern London."

The delegates sprang to attention. She gazed at them fiercely. "We need ambition. We need drive. We need courage. If there is negativity in the barracks, let us find it, grab it and bin it!"

Actually we were squeezed into an old courthouse on Church Street, but the effect was just as she intended. Lib Dems gasped. No one talked to them like that - not even Paddy Ashdown. It was rather exciting, like finding a cat-o'nine-tails on sale in Marks and Spencer.

Sensing the effect she was having, Chamali softened her tone. "I will be the rose between the two thorns," she said. "The flower that blooms."

I briefly pitied Boris. If Chamali got through, he would spend mayoral hustings in agonies of hopeless yearning. "They're going to have to debate policy on my terms," she warned, intending it to be a threat.