However, he added that for the former French Prime Minister Edith Cresson to have appointed her dentist and his son to Commission jobs was "not necessarily" corruption.The former prime minister also warned Mr Blair over his comment that the crisis was an opportunity for Britain "Mr Blair has to be very careful about this," he said.. He also said it was time to change the structure that had led the Commission and the EU to try to do too much and interfere too often.Sir Edward said last week's report on mismanagement of funds presented an opportunity to tackle the EU's weaknesses. "We know he doesn't want the Commission, he doesn't want us to be in Europe and that's all being proclaimed pretty loudly."Sir Edward said he would be "perfectly happy" if the pro- European Tory former cabinet minister Chris Patten and the outgoing Liberal Democrat leader Paddy Ashdown were Britain's next two nominees to be commissioners.When it was pointed out that such appointments would leave supporters of Mr Hague's Euro-sceptic line without a voice, the former Prime Minister replied: "It's a pretty small voice in any case in the House of Commons."Sir Edward conceded that it might be hard for Mr Blair to nominate two non-Labour candidates, but added: "I have long suspected that he really wants to get a nomination from Mr Hague that he won't accept and then put Chris Patten in his place, if Chris wants it."Last Tuesday Mr Hague told the Commons that while he agreed commissioners not directly implicated by the report should serve out their terms as an interim measure, there should be "a total clear-out of the existing Commission and an entirely new set of commissioners appointed". Mr Heath, who took Britain into Europe, dismissed a suggestion by the Tory party leader that the commissioners should all have resigned last January. "All of that is absolute nonsense," he said in a television interview. WILLIAM HAGUE came under fresh fire from his own side last night as Sir Edward Heath accused him of talking "nonsense" over the EU Commission crisis.

Although nobody admits to being racist, there are undercurrents in all our institutions that make black people and all people of ethnic minorities feel they don't belong."The Church is not institutionally racist but there are subtle forces at work in every institution that keep some people out."On behalf of the Church of England I want to extend a welcome to people of every race into the Church," Bishop Jones added.The bishop hit the headlines last weekend when it was revealed that the father-of-three daughters was to be featured alongside strippers and table- top dancers in a BBC series to be shown in the run-up to Easter.Bishop Jones, a close friend of the veteran entertainer Cliff Richard, defended his decision, claiming he was in line with the work of Christ.. The comments came as Bishop Jones delivered a human rights talk as part of the 10th annual Peter Heery lecture in the crypt of Liverpool's Catholic Metropolitan Cathedral of Christ the King. "I think the Church could be much more welcoming to black people," he said."The origins of the black-led churches in this country was because people coming to us, especially from the West Indies, did not find a welcome in the Church at the time. He said many Anglican immigrants arriving in Britain from the West Indies in the Fifties were not welcomed into the Church. The Right Rev James Jones, installed as Bishop of Liverpool last year, denied, however, that the Anglican Church was institutionally racist.

A LEADING bishop said yesterday that the Church of England should be more welcoming to its black congregation. He gave Eric Morecambe's talent a target.Obituary, Review, page 6. He once said: "I am not the stooge; a stooge does not say anything, just stands there with his face painted. I was the song and dance man."But with his "short, fat, hairy legs" and his willingness to have his fringe tugged - "you can't see the join, you know" - Ernie Wise gave more than a song and dance man ever could. Once they moved to longer programmes on BBC1, they became Britain's most popular entertainers. They were at their peak in the Seventies, with their Christmas Day programme as big a tradition as the Queen's broadcast.Wise always rejected the idea he was the lesser partner in the team.

If Eric got lost, it was Ernie pulling him back and righting the boat."Wise, born Ernie Wiseman in Leeds, was just 16 when he teamed up with Morecambe.They first worked on television in the early Sixties in a half-hour ITV show. It wasn't that they were working at it, it was just that they were a joy to be around."Des O'Connor, who for years was the butt of Eric and Ernie's jokes, said Wise had given more to the act than was realised: "Eric was the wit, but Ernie was the strength, the anchor. Yesterday, a Downing Street spokesman said: "The Prime Minister was very saddened to hear about this." Glenda Jackson MP, who was one of many stars who appeared on the Morecambe and Wise show, said the double act was great fun: "We were always laughing during rehearsals and when filming. If Ernie had died first, Eric would have been just as lost professionally as Ernie was without him."Eric Morecambe died of a heart attack in 1984. "They both had an important part to play in their double act," said Bill Cotton, the former BBC1 controller who brought the duo to the BBC "Ernie's role was equally important. I went to the hospital, but he had already died."Leading figures from the entertainment world paid tribute to Wise's 40- year partnership with the man who called him "little Ern".

I phoned the hospital at 6.15 to check how he was and they said he was okay. Then they called back to say they were worried about his condition. He had a triple heart bypass operation in Fort Lauderdale near his holiday home in Florida in January, and flew to Britain by air ambulance two weeks ago. He was in hospital near Slough, Berkshire, when complications from a chest infection and his operation caused heart failure at 7am. His wife, Doreen, said: "He had recovered slightly and was well enough to come home from Florida. ERNIE WISE, perhaps British comedy's greatest straight man, died of heart failure in hospital yesterday morning at the age of 73. Wise, the second half of the hit comedy television show Morecambe and Wise, had been seriously ill since December when he suffered two heart attacks in one week.