Cherie cheers on Asian achievers

Cherie Blair joined celebrities including Lord Lloyd-Webber and Meera Syal to celebrate unsung women achievers from the Asian community.

The Prime Minister's wife wore a fashionable Nehru-style cream jacket over a silk dress for the third Asian Women of Achievement Awards at the Hilton in Park Lane.

As she presented the prize for the winner of the professional woman of the year to paediatrician Professor Bhupinder Sandhu, Mrs Blair, who is patron of the awards, said: "As a professional woman myself, I know how difficult it is to get to the top in what is essentially a man's world."

The highlight of the evening was a performance comprised of previously unseen material by the cast of Lord Lloyd-Webber's musical, Bombay Dream, which is to open at the Apollo theatre next month.

The two stars of the show, Preeya Kalidas and Raza Jaffrey, performed a love song and were then joined by a group of dancers from the show.

Other guests at the event included Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell, former Miss India and Miss World, Diana Hayden, and writer and actress Ms Syal.

Her co-star from Goodness Gracious Me, Nina Wadia, presented the awards and there were also performances by the Indian soprano, Patricia Rozario, and comedienne Shazia Mirza.