ConservativeHome regularly lists public vacancies in the hope that righties might apply for them and thus correct the severe pro-Left imbalance in the quangocracy. But is there any point if the selection panels are staffed by lefties?

Click here and you will see that Jackie Ashley, also known as, Mrs Andrew Marr, has been given a nice little quango job: acting as the ‘independent member’ of the panel choosing the next trustee of the Theatres Trust quango. On the Whitehall website there is a blank space under ‘political activity’ and ‘notes’. Is this entirely truthful?

Ashley was for years a nakedly pro-Labour columnist in the Guardian (her dad was a Labour MP). And is she really that interested in theatre? Our man in the stalls says: “I’ve never seen her at the theatre.” With Ashley on the selection panel, no Tory supporter need apply…