Dame Pauline 'joins BBC race'

Dame Pauline is presently a BBC Governor

Dame Pauline Neville Jones has been a BBC governor since the beginning of 1998.

Her appointment could counter Tory claims of cronyism, since she is widely thought to be right leaning.

Supported by the conservative lobby, she became the first woman to chair the joint intelligence committee.

The negotiations with Milosovic led to peace in Bosnia

In this role she oversaw the body that scrutinises intelligence reports from organisations such as MI5 and MI6.

She has also been a vice chair of Hawkpoint Partners, a member of the NatWest group.

Prior to taking that position, Dame Pauline, 61, was a foreign office diplomat for more than 30 years and rose to be political director and deputy under-secretary.

She was a senior UK negotiator at the Dayton peace talks which brought the Bosnian war to an end in 1995.

When she retired from the foreign service five years ago, it was from a position of some power, but her departure was controversial.

At the time she was the UK's most senior female diplomat and left on the grounds that she was being passed over.

She claimed that her superiors had failed to promote her to the rank of ambassador because she was a woman.

Dame Pauline was born in 1939 and attended school in Leeds before taking an arts degree at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford.

Who's Who lists her recreations as cooking, gardening and antiques.