Most Britons are guilty of racism, says director of public prosecutions

British society is riddled with racial stereotyping and most Britons are guilty of racism, according to the director of public prosecutions.

Sir David Calvert-Smith said he believed prejudice to be widespread and warned that there was a huge task to be done if British society was to rid itself of racism.

He was speaking on BBC Radio 4's On The Ropes programme, due to be broadcast tomorrow. Asked if all British people were racist, he answered: "Yes." He added: "Whether we are talking about asylum, whether we are talking about sport even, there are various stereotypical assumptions made."

Sir David, 57, knighted this month in the Queen's birthday honours list, said it was his "firm belief" that society was institutionally racist as defined by Sir William Macpherson in his inquiry into the murder of Stephen Lawrence. The inquiry defined institutional racism as including "unwitting prejudice, ignorance, thoughtlessness and racist stereotyping".

Sir David said: "A great deal has got to be done across the whole spectrum of British society, so I come to this with the idea that the whole of society has a problem."

He argued that while the Crown Prosecution Service, which he was appointed to lead in 1998, and the police had come to be seen as institutionally racist, they were not the only ones. "It has been very convenient for everyone else to say 'Oh yes, the CPS are a racist organisation, the police are all racist, but nobody else is' – which I'm afraid is far from the truth," he said.

The Home Office distanced itself from Sir David's remarks and Ann Widdecombe, the former Tory Home Office minister, described him as a "silly ass."