FORMER Lancashire and West Indies cricket captain Clive Lloyd could be asked to help advise Foreign Secretary Robin Cook on relations between Britain and the Caribbean.

He is one of a number of black celebrities in the frame to join a new Foreign Office think tank.

At the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Edinburgh this weekend, officials revealed that a new informal advisory group of Britons with Caribbean origin is to be set up.

It will try and improve links with the West Indian islands over a wide range, including business, culture, sport and education.

Foreign Office officials confirmed that high profile figures such as Mr LLoyd, comedian Lenny Henry, TV newsreader Trevor MacDonald and Olympic gold medal sprinter Linford Christie were among the sort of high profile figures they would be looking for. They stressed that black businessmen and politicians were also in the frame to join the group.

So far only its chairman, Baroness Patricia Scotland - Britain's first black QC, whose family hail from Dominica - has been officially approached.

However, as officials stressed they were looking for sporting figures and those of West Indian origin who are prominent in public life, Mr Lloyd would be an ideal choice.

Apart from his high reputation as a sportsman in England and the Caribbean, he has taken a leading role in North West public life and at one point was approached about a political career in his native Guinea - a move thought to have been vetoed by his Manchester-born wife.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.