Soames accused of race jibe at Green

Nicholas Soames, the Tory MP and shadow Defence Secretary, fought an unseemly war of words with millionaire Philip Green in a London restaurant, it was reported last night.

Nicholas Soames, the Tory MP and shadow Defence Secretary, fought an unseemly war of words with millionaire Philip Green in a London restaurant, it was reported last night.

Mr Soames, the grandson of Sir Winston Churchill, is said to have made disparaging remarks that Mr Green and his companions took to be anti-Semitic.

Astonished diners in the Oriental restaurant at Mayfair's Dorchester Hotel then saw the two men square-up.

Mr Green, who recently mounted a take-over attempt of Marks & Spencer, was accompanied by Jeff Randall, the BBC business editor, and a journalist from The Sunday Times. They report that after some bad-tempered banter, Mr Soames shouted, "their kind keep it all together, as ever", a comment which, as Mr Green is Jewish, they took to refer to his faith.

Mr Soames is reported to have denied any anti-semitism, describing the comments as a joke that backfired.