UK row over race speech

Blair must make a decision by Monday on election date

LONDON, England -- UK opposition Conservative leader William Hague has scorned one of his followers for remarks he made about immigrants.

Veteran Conservative politician John Townend said in a speech that immigrants had undermined Britain's "homogenous Anglo-Saxon society."

Prime Minister Tony Blair's team reacted quickly sending a written request demanding Hague turn his back on Townend.

Cabinet Office Minister Mo Mowlam wrote: "No respectable party should allow any prominent figure within it to make such a speech and the Conservative Party must now take action to demonstrate clearly that this sort of behaviour is unacceptable."

Hague condemned Townend's remarks saying: "They are totally unacceptable and I will repudiate them."

Asylum and immigration are key electoral issues for Hague, who has frequently raised his voice against what he brands the weakness of Blair's Labour government to tackle the rising tide of asylum-seekers trying to get into Britain.

Hague, far behind Blair in the opinion polls, attracted attention earlier this month when he told his party's spring conference Britain was becoming a "foreign land" with control of taxes and even its own soldiers passed to Brussels.

Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy said: "Mr Townend's remarks confirm the inevitable result of William Hague's leadership."

Blair, riding high in opinion polls, wants an early election on May 3 but may delay plans amid mounting criticism of his government's handling of a foot-and-mouth epidemic.

Several government ministers have insisted that delaying an election would send the wrong signal to the rest of the world -- that Britain was effectively closed for business.

Blair must make a decision by Monday on the May 3 date.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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