Judiciary faces public crisis unless it appoints more women and ethnic minorities, says Jack Straw His comments come after the Church of England faced parliamentary criticism following the General Synod's rejection of plans to admit women to the episcopate. Mr Straw backed the idea of favourable treatment for under-represented candidates, saying opponents of such measures incorrectly pitted "merit" and "diversity" against each other. I simply dispute the view that if you do something positive to help women and people from the ethnic minorities to get on, merit must suffer. The reverse is true. If we want the best, we must look widely, not just within one narrow group, to find it. Mr Straw said: "Merit is an empty vessel that needs careful filling. It can easily mean "people like us." All-women shortlists used by Labour to select candidates in the 1997 General Election saw 101 elected to Parliament, doubling the number of female MPs, he added, arguing that the result had helped improve standards. "Despite insults about skirts, the quality of the women MPs on both sides of the House is higher than that of men, while the quality of the most recent intake of male MPs is significantly better than it was 30 years ago," he said. Mr Straw, a former foreign secretary, said he disputed the notion that one could never find two candidates of equal merit, saying that he had been faced with "making very fine distinctions" in his experience choosing permanent secretaries and ambassadors. He said that in such circumstances he was in favour of selecting "a black candidate over an equally meritorious white candidate." Mr Straw said measures could be taken to improve diversity in the judiciary "short of positive discrimination," and he was not suggesting women-only shortlists. Such changes could include improved mentoring and reforming the selection process to improve feedback for candidates who failed to make the grade but who may wish to re-apply in future.