Nigel Farage provokes outrage with claim Labour 'wanted to rub our noses in diversity'

'How you can say what you said next to a black woman, I don't know'

Nigel Farage provoked outrage from people campaigning on his own side during a live debate on the EU referendum.

The Ukip leader stunned fellow Leave supporter Dreda Say Mitchell by accusing the Labour party of promoting immigration because it "wanted to rub our noses in diversity".

During a debate on whether Britain should leave the EU, Lord Peter Mandelson said the Ukip leader was only "interested in stirring the pot" to suit his political grievances against Brussels.

Mr Farage replied: "You wanted to rub our noses in diversity didn’t you Lord Mandelson, isn't that right?"

His comment caused Lord Mandelson to angrily shout back:“What's wrong with diversity? Why shouldn’t we have people of different ethnic backgrounds, different colours, different religions?

“You’re sitting next to a black person!”

Crime author Mitchell, seated next to Mr Farage in the debate hosted by the Mirror, asks him: "How can you say that while you're sitting next to me?"

Mr Farage said he was quoting Lord Mandelson from 1998, who disputed the claim, saying: "I never said any such thing as you well know. So don't make it up as you go along."

The Ukip leader adds: “The point is Labour tried this as a deliberate policy and it’s hurt working people.”

Mr Farage appears not to have been quoting Lord Mandelson, but instead Andrew Neather, a former adviser to Tony Blair.

In 2009, Mr Neather claimed Labour encouraged immigration partly to promote diversity, saying: "Earlier drafts I saw also included a driving political purpose: that mass immigration was the way that the Government was going to make the UK truly multicultural.

"I remember coming away from some discussions with the clear sense that the policy was intended – even if this wasn’t its main purpose – to rub the Right’s nose in diversity and render their arguments out of date."