Row over pay-off for disgraced race chief

The chairman of the Commission for Racial Equality resigned with a £115,000 pay-off yesterday. He had pleaded guilty to threatening two police officers outside Lord's cricket ground last month after a match between England and India.

Gurbux Singh, who was appointed to the post two years ago, was fined £500 at Bow Street magistrates' court in central London after he admitted being drunk and trying to headbutt one of the officers during the fracas.

Singh, 51, said last night that he deeply regretted the incident and had tendered his resignation. But there was condemnation from some quarters over the Home Office's decision to give him what amounts to a year's severance pay.

Norman Baker, the Liberal Democrat spokesman on home affairs, said: "If Mr Singh was a normal public-sector worker he would not be getting compensation, he would be leaving under a cloud."

The Home Office said Beverley Bernard, Singh's deputy, would become acting chairwoman.