As David Dimbleby and the Question Time head to Barrow this month, all eyes are on who is going to replace the silver-haired stalwart when he retires later this year.

Auditions for the new QT anchor are taking place at the moment, with Nick Robinson, Kirsty Wark, Emily Maitlis, Samira Ahmed and others being touted as possible successors to Dimbleby, who has been at the helm of the show for 25 years.

It is widely believed that the job will go to a woman, which means that unless Nick Robinson fancies self-identifying as a female, it’s not going to be him.

I’m all for equality. There aren’t enough women in prominent public roles - and certainly not in the political arena, where Question Time clearly sits.

But no woman would surely argue that the quest for equality must be turned into an exercise in positive discrimination to the detriment of actual talent.

For my money, the most obvious choice to replace David Dimbleby is Andrew Neill. He’s a fantastically able political interviewer, who doesn’t take any nonsense from prevaricating politicians and is one of the most unflappable television presenters of his time. I don’t know whether he’s in the mix or not but I doubt that the liberal leaders of the BBC would entertain the idea of having Neill - a white, middle-aged male with deeply unfashionable views on such things as grammar schools - at the helm of such a programme.

Whoever gets the job, I certainly don’t envy them. Chairing Question Time is a tough gig, not least having to deal with all those whopping egos. Politicians, journalists, comedians (such as Eddie Izzard, whose disastrous performance on the show recently will go down in history) all shouting over each other in an attempt to steal the limelight... sometimes it must be like having to separate squabbling five-year-olds in a playground.

Mr Dimbleby should be saluted for his ability to describe members of the audience without giving offence, when he picks them out to have their say.

Whoever succeeds David Dimbleby, she will have a tough act to follow. For the rest of us, it will be sad to see the charming Mr D bowing out after a quarter of century in the chair. A knighthood or a seat in the Lords surely beckons for him after all this.

In the meantime, let’s hope the Barrow audience later this month doesn’t give him any trouble. Perish the thought.