It is right that the Royal Navy should be trying to improve on its recruitment record from the ethnic minorities. With only one per cent of the force made up of people from those groups, when they constitute seven per cent of the population, it is clearly unrepresentative of the country as a whole.

It is right, too, that the Royal Navy should be targeting Bradford as part of its recruiting drive. We have a higher-than-average proportion of young people from the ethnic minorities, particularly Asians, many well educated but finding trouble getting jobs in a district with a relatively high level of unemployment.

The Royal Navy can offer them a great deal in terms of training, further education and personal development. There seems, on the face of it, to be every practical reason for the recruiting drive to be a success.

However, a few high-profile cases recently have created the impression that racism is a significant problem in the armed forces. It is likely that the public perception created by these cases is much worse than the reality and that there are black and Asian people who are making a success of their careers without experiencing any bigotry.

But that perception remains. If the Royal Navy and the other armed forces are to overcome it, they must not only create a positive image but must also ensure that all their new recruits find that it is matched by the reality. If the armed forces are to reflect the racial mix of Britain's population they must reflect, at all levels, its rejection of racism.

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